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…

Audi Crooks is one of nine Iowa State players who officially entered the NCAA transfer portal Monday in the first 12 hours it was open.

UCLA finished the season at No. 1 in The Associated Press women's basketball Top 25 after defeating South Carolina to win its first NCAA championship. The Bruins were a unanimous choice from the 31-member national media panel. The Gamecocks were second, with UConn and Texas third and fourth. The SEC and the Big Ten each had eight teams in the final Top 25 of the season. The ACC had five and The Big 12 three.

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.