We Speak Women's College Basketball
First Time’s the Crown: UCLA Routs South Carolina 79-51 for Its First NCAA Championship
UCLA’s long wait is over. The Bruins won the first NCAA championship in program history on Sunday, routing South Carolina 79-51 at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix in a title game between No. 1 seeds — the program’s first national crown since its AIAW championship in 1978.
There was never much doubt. UCLA led 21-10 after the first quarter, 36-23 at halftime and 61-32 after three quarters, and the 28-point margin finished as the third-largest in the history of the women’s championship game. All five Bruins starters reached double figures: senior guard Gabriela Jaquez led the way with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, senior center Lauren Betts posted 14 points and 11 rebounds, Gianna Kneepkens added 15, and Kiki Rice and Charlisse Leger-Walker scored 10 apiece. Betts was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.
South Carolina never found its offense. The Gamecocks were led by Tessa Johnson’s 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting and 11 bench points from Agot Makeer, while leading option Joyce Edwards managed eight points on 3-of-10 shooting. As a team, South Carolina shot just 29 percent from the field and 2-of-15 from three-point range.
The title caps a 37-1 season for UCLA under head coach Cori Close, who has led the program since 2011-12. The Bruins’ only loss came against Texas, 76-65, on November 26 — a defeat they avenged with a 51-44 win over the Longhorns in the national semifinal. For Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks, it was a second straight loss in the championship game after falling to UConn in 2025.
America watched it happen. The final averaged 9.9 million viewers with a peak of 10.7 million — the third-highest rating ever for a women’s championship game and a 15 percent gain on the 2025 final.
We Speak Women's College Basketball
Five-Star Center Zaniya Johnson Commits to South Carolina
Five-star center Zaniya Johnson of Biloxi, Mississippi, committed to South Carolina over LSU, becoming Dawn Staley’s third five-star pledge of October for the Class of 2027.
Dawn Staley’s October run on the recruiting trail is officially a streak. Five-star center Zaniya Johnson announced Wednesday that she is taking her game to South Carolina, choosing the Gamecocks over finalist LSU and giving Staley her third five-star commitment of the month for the Class of 2027.
The 6-foot-4 post from Biloxi, Mississippi, is ranked No. 18 in ESPN’s SC Next 100 for the Class of 2027, and the 247Sports Composite has her at No. 16 overall and the No. 2 center in the class. She is the top-rated player in Mississippi.
“I truly believe [South Carolina] has everything I need and more to grow both on and off the court,” Johnson told ESPN. “South Carolina has a proven track record of developing post players, and having the opportunity to be part of a program like that was something I couldn’t pass up.”
Johnson visited Columbia on Oct. 2 and was spotted alongside Staley on the sideline before the Kentucky football game. She also took visits to Florida State and Texas A&M, and she canceled a scheduled Mississippi State visit after her South Carolina trip — an early sign of where this was headed. She made it official at a ceremony at her school on Oct. 21.
Johnson joins guards Taylor Brown, who committed on Oct. 3, and Jezelle “GG” Banks, the No. 4 overall player in the class, in South Carolina’s 2027 haul. After loading up on the perimeter, Staley now has her true center — a traditional back-to-the-basket post in the mold the Gamecocks love to build around.
As a junior, Johnson averaged 14.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. She passed 1,000 career points as a sophomore and 1,000 career rebounds as a junior, and she is a two-time Region Player of the Year. For a program with a proven record of developing post players, the fit in the paint is easy to see.
Photo: Johnson’s official visit to South Carolina (via ESPN)
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