AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — From Final Four to roster rebuild. That's what Texas women's basketball coach Vic Schaefer is facing after a group of key…

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley says it is time to move past her Final Four skirmish with UConn coac…

Gabriela Jaquez scored 21 points, Lauren Betts added 16 and UCLA routed South Carolina 79-51 Sunday to win its first NCAA championship in women’s basketball. The near-record lopsided victory completed the Bruins’ journey through this year’s March Madness that started following a loss to UConn in last season’s Final Four. The Bruins ran through their opponents this season with their only loss coming in November, to Texas in a Thanksgiving tournament. UCLA (37-1) was led by Betts and her fellow seniors and graduate students, like Jaquez _ who played all four years with the Bruins. She also had 10 rebounds and five assists in front of her brother Jaime, who plays for the Miami Heat and flew in to attend the game to watch his alma mater win.

Cori Close and the UCLA Bruins are going to have to work hard to repeat as champions. They lose their top six players to graduation after putting on one of the most dominant performances in championship history to win their first NCAA title and second overall, routing South Carolina by 28 points. But with the transfer portal opening Monday, the UCLA coach can build a new team quickly. Close has said that the school will be very active, looking to add five players. Challenging the Bruins will be the runner-up Gamecocks and coach Dawn Staley. The Gamecocks will be one of the favorites for the title when the Final Four moves to Columbus, Ohio, next year.

The women’s Final Four looked as though it might be a classic, featuring a quartet of the game’s marquee programs along with a number of veteran stars and iconic coaches. Three sloppy basketball games later, it feels like another missed opportunity. Much like last year’s title mismatch. The sport is on the rise but the last two Final Fours have featured blowouts, long-distance shooting struggles and point-blank misses. The lasting memory from this year’s Final Four likely won’t be a basketball moment. UConn coach Geno Auriemma angrily confronted South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, leading to a tense moment between two of the game’s top coaches.

UCLA women's basketball has won its first NCAA national championship with a 79-51 blowout of South Carolina. Lauren Betts was the catalyst at both ends of the floor, as she's been throughout her career. The 6-foot-7 senior finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots, altering and preventing even the thought of several others at the rim to give UCLA its first national championship since a 1978 AIAW title. Betts had a similar impact in UCLA’s 51-44 shutdown of Texas in the national semifinals, a 16-point, 11-rebound, three-block performance that set the stage for her to win Final Four most outstanding player.

Ann Meyers Drysdale will always be a Bruin. She won a title with UCLA nearly 50 years ago in the now dissolved AIAW. That was the postseason tournament for women’s college basketball before the NCAA took over in 1982. She was filled with the same joy watching UCLA defeat South Carolina for its first NCAA-era title on Sunday. A lot has changed besides the sport’s governing body in the five decades since she and her teammates hoisted that trophy, but Meyers Drysdale’s presence within the Bruins program has remained the same.

South Carolina’s quest to win a fourth national title ended in ugly fashion for a second straight season when the Gamecocks lost to UCLA 79-51 in the NCAA women’s basketball title game. Even so, the monster program that Dawn Staley has built over the past 15 years doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere. South Carolina should be one of the top contenders to make a seventh straight Final Four in 2027 and it will have plenty of motivation after Sunday’s debacle. The Gamecocks shot just 29% from the field and the 28-point margin was among the biggest in championship game history.

It seems there will be no pregame handshake drama at the national championship game. Two days ago in a March Madness Final Four game, UConn’s Geno Auriemma confronted South Carolina’s Dawn Staley over what he viewed was a failure to properly follow pregame handshake protocol. Before UCLA and South Carolina tipped off for Sunday’s title game, Staley embraced and shook hands with UCLA coach Cori Close, and the two chatted briefly. Staley then turned to the crowd and lifted her hands with a smirk on her face, as if making sure everyone in attendance documented the moment.