SACRAMENTO — The tension was reflected in Cori Close's movements.
Standing and watching with her arms tightly crossed or pressed against her hips, the UCLA women's basketball coach did not like what she was seeing Friday evening.
Her team kept blowing layups. It missed its first seven3-pointers. Even with its tight defense disrupting Minnesota, the heavily favored top seed couldn't get much separation in the first half of its Sweet 16 game in the NCAA Tournament.
The tension was reflected in Cori Close's movements. Getty Images
As the Golden Gophers made a jumper to keep the score uncomfortably close inside the Golden 1 Center, Close threw up her arms in exasperation and shared a lament with her assistants.
What she saw after halftime was far more agreeable.
Shaking off its worst funk of the postseason, UCLA pulled away for an 80-56 victory over the fourth-seeded Gophers.
The first visible signs of relief came early in the fourth quarter. After Kiki Rice made a 3-pointer, Close clapped and spread her hands as if acknowledging surprise that something finally went right.
Plenty of good things happened whenever Rice touched the ball. Strong in transition, the point guard finished with a game-high 21 points while making 7 of 12 shots and adding three steals.
"I felt like I got some good match-ups, good looks at the basket," Rice said. "And I think when teams commit so much to my teammates, whether it's shooters or our posts inside, it opens up driving lanes."
Shaking off its worst funk of the postseason, UCLA pulled away for an 80-56 victory over the fourth-seeded Gophers. Getty Images
UCLA center Lauren Betts added 16 points, five rebounds and five blocks while helping her team outscore the Golden Gophers, 52-22, in the paint. Guard Charlisse Leger-Walker tallied four points to go with her eight assists and forward Angela Dugalic added a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
Most of what UCLA did well involved preventing points.
"We definitely tightened up defensively," said Close, whose team fulfilled her request to open the second half with three consecutive defensive stops. "One of the things I'm most proud of today is we really did not shoot it well and did not let that dictate our defensive intensity, and that's something we've been challenging them on."
After shaking off a first half in which it missed nine layups, UCLA (34-1) will face third-seeded Duke in the Elite Eight on Sunday afternoon.
Leger-Walker shifted the momentum early in the third quarter with consecutive outlet passes leading to layups in transition. When Rice zipped an inbounds pass to Gabriela Jaquez for another layup, the Bruins held their first double-digit lead and were on their way to a program-record 28th consecutive victory.
UCLA's Lauren Betts scored 16 points in the Sweet 16 victory Friday against Minnesota. Getty Images
While UCLA had won by 18 points when these teams faced one another in January in Minneapolis, Close fully understood this version of the Gophers was vastly improved after winning 12 of its last 14 games.
"They are playing their best basketball of the season," Close said on the eve of the game. "They're disciplined. They know who they are. They know how each role of their team fits best for the collective whole."
Minnesota (24-9) made it to this stage by beating Green Bay and Ole Miss in the first two rounds of the tournament. Neither of those teams presented the sort of challenges the Gophers faced on Friday, but they were up to the challenge in the early going.
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Despite committing nine turnovers, they never let UCLA get comfortable and never trailed by more than eight points. Minnesota guard Mara Braun's jumper late in the second quarter made it a three-point game before Gianna Kneepkens countered with her driving layup just before the halftime buzzer.
After experiencing pockets of poor play in the first two rounds , this was the deepest funk UCLA had fallen into. Before the game, Close had said she believed the lapses could be valuable.
"They are playing their best basketball of the season," Close said on the eve of the game. AP
"We look at it as everything is a learning opportunity: What does that teach us; how does that make us better; what kinds of things do we need to tighten up?" Close said Thursday. "When you can have certain things in the heat of battle get exposed and still find ways to win and get another opportunity, you can just allow it to make you stronger. And that's the choice you have from each experience."
Close said the only thing she measured her team against was its own championship standards, not outside expectations about playing nearly flawless basketball.
This felt like a homecourt advantage for the Bruins beyond a crowd that heavily tilted in their favor.
UCLA had played Oklahoma on this court in November, knowing that it might play here again if the rest of the season went according to plan. After so much struggle during the first half Friday, it felt like everything was back on track.
Pumping her arms when the buzzer sounded, Close's team was in a much better place than it was an hour earlier.
