INDIANAPOLIS — At halftime, with her star center failing to dominate in a game that was uncomfortably close, Cori Close staged a demonstration.
The UCLA women’s basketball coach bodied up forward Timea Gardiner, showing Lauren Betts how she needed to seal her defender.
“Like, go after people,” Close said, referencing her message to Betts. “Do not call for the ball until you have contact, until you have somebody behind you, because we’re not giving it to you unless you do that.”
Betts complied in the second half Friday, giving the top-seeded Bruins the lift they needed against eighth-seeded Washington in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal.
In her first game since becoming the first player in conference history to be selected both Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, Betts was a dual force in powering her team to a 78-60 victory at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Sealing her defender as prescribed, Betts scored 16 of her game-high 26 points in the second half. She added eight rebounds and two assists for a team that controlled the paint, outscoring the Huskies, 52-32, and outrebounding them by 11.
“I just thought every single touch she got in the second half was to the rim and was with aggression,” Close said of Betts, who made 13 of 20 shots. “We’re best when we can play through that, play through the paint, and Lauren was huge tonight on both sides of the ball.”
As an unexpected bonus, Betts might have saved her coach from getting a technical foul. After Close grumbled about a questionable traveling call on Gianna Kneepkens in the fourth quarter, Betts said a few soothing words to her coach to prevent the situation from escalating.
“Just got to calm her down a little bit,” Betts said. “She’s OK. She usually doesn’t get like that, but she has her little moments.”
Added Close: “She’s been having my back a lot recently.”
All season, in fact. This was Betts’ 19th consecutive game scoring in double figures, showing once again why she’s a leading candidate to win multiple National Player of the Year awards for a program that’s trying to capture its first NCAA title.
Among the traits that make Betts unique, Close said there’s no other center in the country who can switch on screens and stay with shooters the way Betts can. In fact, Betts said she favored her ability to dominate on the defensive end over scoring.
“I prioritize that the most,” said the 6-foot-7 Betts, whose statistics don’t account for the innumerable shots she alters or prevents from being taken. “How can I execute the scout? How can I take away the best players? How can I rebound? That’s what comes first to me. Then points will come. But, yeah, I don’t know. I just think I’ve always prided myself on defense, and I take it very seriously. I know it’s going to help our team win games, at the end of the day.”
Betts’ early offensive struggles Friday were all the more puzzling given that Washington didn’t swarm her with double teams.
“The first couple of possessions of the game,” Close said, “she was reverse-pivoting and facing up and shooting the 8-foot jumper. I’m, like, you’re feeding into exactly what they want you to do.”
With her team leading by only five points at halftime, Close showed Betts how to be more aggressive with her demonstration. What happened after that?
On UCLA’s first possession of the third quarter, Betts sealed Washington freshman forward Brynn McGaughy and went in for a layup. It would become a routine move the rest of the game as Betts made eight of her final 10 shots.
“Lauren is experienced,” Washington coach Tina Langley said. “She keeps getting deeper and sealing you earlier, and it’s just experience versus a little inexperience.”
It’s the sort of veteran savvy that might carry the Bruins all the way into April.
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