By BETH HARRIS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s been a tough February so far for the UCLA women’s basketball team. The Bruins suffered a 20-point loss at No. 4 Stanford and were without center Lauren Betts, as well as two other players.
“We need to get our family back whole,” coach Cori Close said Sunday.
Betts scored 18 points on 9 of 10 shooting in her second game back and the ninth-ranked Bruins used a big third quarter to pull away from Arizona State, winning 78-45 for a weekend sweep.
The Bruins (19-4, 8-4 Pac-12) got 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists from Charisma Osborne. Kiki Rice added 12 points and eight rebounds.
As the tallest player on the court, the 6-foot-7 Betts was too much down low for the Sun Devils. She missed four games because of an undisclosed medical reason and the team went 2-2 in her absence.
Leading by nine at halftime, the Bruins outscored the Sun Devils 23-12 in the third for a 51-31 lead. Betts had 10 points with her teammates feeding her in the post for layups. Twice, UCLA scored eight points in a row.
“Reality for us is we needed to get back together and find a way to be champions of the weekend. It was really important to put two games together that we had better rebounding and passion,” Close said. “That was our number one focus, to get back some fight. We made some good steps.”
Betts also had seven rebounds before picking up her third foul and sitting down for good with 7:12 remaining. She didn’t attempt a 3-pointer and never went to the free throw line.
“Your stats were great but your energy is better,” Close told Betts afterward. “It’s really great to have you back.”
UCLA beat Arizona 66-58 on Friday. Betts didn’t start and finished with six points, five rebounds and four blocked shots.
“I felt a lot better today than I did Friday,” she said. “A week of practice is really helpful, just being with the team and just getting that chemistry back with all of my teammates.”
The Bruins…
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