NCAA women's national championship live updates: UCLA leads South Carolina early in second quarter

In a moment that Geno Auriemma was perhaps watching closely, both coaches hugged before tipoff today. Auriemma claimed he was incensed by waiting too long for a pregame handshake from Dawn Staley before Friday's semifinal. Auriemma has since apologized.

UCLA shoots 8-for-18 in the first quarter to speed out to a double-digit lead over South Carolina.

The Gamecocks have made just three of their 18 shots.

For the last two minutes of the first quarter Lauren Betts has been on the sideline coughing into a towel and seemingly struggling to breathe while gesturing toward her throat. A member of UCLA's training staff has been next to Betts the entire time, but Betts at one point appeared to tell her that she didn't know what was going on with her breathing.

South Carolina scored six unanswered points after falling behind 13-4, but that run was then cut short when UCLA's Charlisse Leger-Walker made a corner 3-pointer. The score remains 16-10 with 2:46 left in the first quarter.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. led UCLA's men to a Final Four in 2021 when the Bruins lost in the semifinals. Now the Miami Heat player is hoping his sister, Gabriela, can win a title.

With 5:35 to play in the opening quarter, South Carolina has missed multiple shots right at the rim so far and hasn't looked quite like the team that has been on this stage before. UCLA, meanwhile, has looked a bit more poised despite making its title-game debut. Lauren Betts has four points.

On the very first possession for UCLA, star center Lauren Betts couldn't get position comfortably against the defense of South Carolina defender Madina Okot. Okot has been playing Betts very physically in the early going, with success. How tightly officials call this game will be interesting to watch, because foul trouble by Okot will throw off the Gamecocks defense.

Playing in its first title game, UCLA has tipped off against South Carolina, a powerhouse seeking its fourth NCAA championship under coach Dawn Staley.

Late in the NCAA Tournament, Bruins coach Cori Close hasn't played a big rotation. She's played seven players regularly, and six of them are seniors or graduate students, led by star center Lauren Betts. The seventh player? Betts' little sister Sienna, who's a freshman on the team.

"All of the seniors, knowing that is our last game together, it means a lot, Lauren Betts said. "These girls are my best friends, they’re [my] sisters. I’d do anything for them. We’ve created a legacy at UCLA. I’m just hoping to continue that legacy."

As for her sister, Betts said, "I can’t wait to see how she continues this legacy at UCLA. I’m just so proud of her."

The Final Four teams included two teams (South Carolina and UCLA) coached by women, and two by men (UConn and Texas). While all-women-coached finals are not rare, Auriemma's teams have dominated so often, with 12 national titles, that it's no given the final every year will include two women head coaches.

"Give Coach Auriemma and coach Vic Schaefer their kudos in what they have done to set bars of excellence in the game," UCLA coach Cori Close said Saturday.

"That being said, I think both Dawn (Staley) and I feel a sense of pride that we are able to continue to represent women that can coach at the highest levels, to promote our game. I think both Dawn and I really see this as something bigger than ourselves. That’s an honor. That’s an honor to be a part of that.

"Part of legacy, I don’t want to speak for her, but I do think she feels the same way, we really want to have made an impact on growing the game for a long time to come, to inspire that women can stay in this game, that we don’t lose women coaches. We need to promote more women at the grassroots levels to be coaching, getting involved in new sports. There’s just a lot of things that go into that.

"I think there’s something to be said that if you can see it, you think you can achieve it, right? I think it’s an honor to be a small part of that."

The Bruins have a long history of success in their men's basketball program, but last year was the first time its women's program had made the Final Four. And now, the team has made its first national championship game.

"I definitely think last year felt like ... we were reacting to everything, not anticipating," UCLA coach Cori Close said. "Whereas now that we have been a part of this, it just was a totally different planning experience. I just felt like we were able to be more strategic in how we put our players in positioning to be successful."

The familiarity in being in a Final Four for a second consecutive year, "you just think that makes all the difference in the world," Close said.

Asked about the apology issued by Geno Auriemma for his postgame exchange of words with Dawn Staley on Friday night, Staley said one day later that she wasn't even revisiting the topic.

"For me, no distractions at this time," Staley told reporters. "Concentrating on winning the national championship. That’s it."

Asked if she was disappointed in how much the coaches' exchange had dominated the conversation since the semifinal, Staley said it was "a little disheartening."

Staley was later asked how she had developed a team culture that could keep her team focused amid such distractions.

"One, I had a praying mother, right?" Staley said. "Two, I grew up in the projects of North Philly, right, Philly, 215, 267, area code. So nothing, nothing can derail us, or me, from staying with the task at hand. There are a lot of distractions that are placed in your life. You either going to address them and let it overcome or you stick with the task at hand.

"I’m choosing to stick to the task at hand. At some point everything is going to be addressed. Today, this weekend won’t be one of them."

Just a freshman, Agot Makeer has averaged 14.6 points during her first tournament, and has made 45% of her 3-pointers, as well. She scored 14 against Connecticut in Friday's semifinal win.

The 6-foot-1 freshman from Canada has some experience playing well on big stages already. Last year, while playing at Florida's storied Montverde Academy, Makeer scored 20 points in the Chipotle High School National Championship.

While holding NCAA tournament opponents to just 52.6 points, the Gamecocks have worn down the opposition after halftime.

In the postseason, South Carolina has outscored its opponents by an average of 13.9 points. Considering how South Carolina was able to comfortably pull away from UConn on Friday in the fourth quarter, UCLA — which looked shaky while holding a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter of its own semifinal — must be on alert.

UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma apologized on Saturday after a heated exchange with South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley on Friday. The incident occurred in the final seconds of No. 1 South Carolina’s 62-48 upset over No. 1 Connecticut at midcourt.

In a statement Saturday, Auriemma said that “there’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina.”

“It was uncalled for in how I reacted. The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don’t want my actions to detract from that,” he wrote. “I’ve had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them.”

On Senior Night, the UCLA women's basketball team performed a dance routine, with some help from the school's dance team. Leading up to that day, the dance team put the basketball team through rehearsals. UCLA star Lauren Betts said that, after the rehearsal, she was "more sore from that than I have been in a pre-season practice. It was so exhausting."

"For them to teach us a dance and be so patient with us, we think we’re good, but we’re definitely not as good as they are," Betts added. "That was just a really cool experience for the girls."

Asked if UCLA had any dances for the national title game, Betts said, " I mean, I’m not trying to jinx anything, but I’m sure you’ll see lots of dances from us. I wouldn’t be surprised if this pops up [on Sunday]."

Just five coaches in the history of NCAA Division I basketball have won three or more national championships. A win tonight would give South Carolina coach Dawn Staley her fourth title and move her into a tie with Kim Mulkey for third-most in history. The list is:

• Geno Auriemma (UConn): 12
• Pat Summitt (Tennessee): 8
• Kim Mulkey (Baylor, LSU): 4
• Tara VanDerveer (Stanford): 3
• Dawn Staley (South Carolina): 3