Rice leads No. 2 UCLA past No. 11 Ohio State 72-62 in Big Ten tourney semis

By Canadian Press on March 7, 2026.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kiki Rice scored 17 points to lead five UCLA players in double figures and the Bruins won their school-record 24th consecutive game, 72-62 over No. 11 Ohio State on Saturday in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.

Conference Player of the Year Lauren Betts and Angela Dugalic each scored 14 points for the Bruins (30-1), who led the entire way. Gianna Kneepkens scored 13 points and Gabriela Jaquez added 10 points.

Chance Gray led the fifth-seeded Buckeyes (26-7) with 23 points, hitting 6 of 11 shots and seven free throws. Jaloni Cambridge added 12 points and Elsa Lemmila had 10 points for the Buckeyes.

UCLA hit 44% from the field while Ohio State made 37%. Each team had 34 rebounds. Betts led UCLA with nine rebounds.

Trailing 32-21 at halftime, the closest Ohio State got in the third quarter was seven points at 45-38 with 4:15 left. UCLA led 52-40 after three quarters.

The Buckeyes cut the deficit to seven points again at 69-62 with 1:24 left on two free throws by Cambridge.

The Bruins shot 44% in the first half while limiting the Buckeyes to 28% en route to a 32-21 halftime lead. The lone negative for UCLA was making just 1 of 9 from 3-point range in the first half. The Bruins made of 5 of 10 3-pointers in the second half.

The Bruins jumped out to a 14-3 lead before the Buckeyes scored the final seven points of the first quarter to trim the deficit to 14-10.

Up Next

Ohio State: Will await its selection and seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

UCLA: The Bruins will meet the winner between No. 8 Michigan and No. 9 Iowa in Sunday’s championship.

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Mark Ambrogi, The Associated Press