UCLA rolls into March Madness game as big favorite, but Oklahoma State says it’s ‘fuel to the fire’

By Canadian Press on March 22, 2026.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The numbers keep growing for the top-seeded UCLA Bruins.

Their 32 wins are the most in a single season. Their 53-point victory over Cal Baptist in the opening round of March Madness was the biggest postseason win in program history.

Now, they’re 26 1/2-point favorites against ninth-seeded Oklahoma State on Monday night, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

“I did not know that,” Cowgirls guard Stailee Heard said Sunday, “but that definitely adds fuel to the fire.”

The Cowgirls (24-9) are 0-2 at Pauley Pavilion, where the team played in 2017 and 2018 as part of a home-and-home series. The Bruins are 16-0 at home this season and have lost just one game overall.

None of that bothers Heard’s backcourt mate, Haleigh Timmer.

“We wouldn’t be surprised if we won,” she said. “Going in with that mindset just to attack the game and just believing in ourselves even if nobody else does.”

The winner advances to the Sweet 16 in Sacramento. The Cowgirls haven’t been that far since 2014. The Bruins, with one loss this season, reached the Final Four last year.

UCLA had five players in double figures, including three with double-doubles, in overpowering Cal Baptist 96-43 after a slow start.

“They’re a bunch of pros,” Cowgirls coach Jacie Hoyt said. “There’s a level of composure and poise that they play with. A separator for them is their intangibles. They just have a poise about them. The moment never seems too big. They never really seem to get rattled.”

A and B post matchup

Achol Akot led the Cowgirls to an 82-68 win over eighth-seeded Princeton, with a career-high 28 points on 12-of-15 shooting and 10 rebounds.

“I have so much confidence every time she has the ball that she’s either going to go up and finish it or kick it out,” Timmer said. “Even on defense, us guards will lose our person, and she’ll cover that up. You might not see it on the stat sheet, but she does so much for our team. She just fills in the gaps.”

Akot is 6 inches shorter than Lauren Betts, UCLA’s 6-foot-7 AP All-America center.

“Lauren Betts is not someone you can stop one-on-one. You’ve got to have great help,” Hoyt said. “You have to have great rotations. Got to box out and keep her off the glass, and I think that falls on everyone.”

UCLA’s March Madness rookie

Lauren Betts is wrapping up her college career at UCLA after spending her freshman year at Stanford. Her younger sister, Sienna, is just getting started in Westwood.

Sienna Betts had a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds off the bench against Cal Baptist. As Lauren Betts laughingly pointed out, some of those rebounds were from her sister’s own misses.

“I’m still a perfectionist, so I’m looking at what I could have done better,” Sienna Betts said. “I just want to be able to improve and learn from that game and take what I can into the next game to do better.”

Little sister is figuring things out on and off the court.

“Switching onto these little fast guards because in college the 4 is like another guard, that’s something very new to me,” Sienna Betts said.

Asked about potential problems the Cowgirls present, she started to answer and then hesitated, seemingly unsure of what or how much she should say.

“Sorry, I never had a question about another team before,” Sienna Betts said, laughing.

UCLA coach Cori Close feels invigorated by the younger Betts’ humor and fresh take on things.

“She is so hard on herself and she’s so driven, I think her humor is actually a saving grace for her,” Close said. “It’s sort of a breathe moment. It’s laughter. Because when she’s not smiling and bringing joy, she’s usually beating herself up for a mistake.”

Fashion forward

Hoyt is keeping it in the Oklahoma State family when it comes to her March Madness fashion.

She wore black pants covered with orange sequined basketballs and the nickname Cowgirls in white for Saturday’s win over Princeton. Her orange top was covered by a black jacket with Cowgirls spelled out in sequins across the back.

The pants were the inspiration of Ellie Fallah, the wife of Oklahoma State forward Parsa Fallah, who is from Iran.

“When I was in need of an outfit, I reached out to her and said, ‘Here’s what I have. What can you do with it?'” Hoyt said. “She flipped those pants for me pretty quick, and she also made a shirt that I’ll be wearing tomorrow.”

Hoyt’s sister, Terran, is an assistant on her staff. She wore a shirt designed by Fallah on Saturday.

“I didn’t know she was going to do that,” Jacie Hoyt said. “That was a little bit spicy, a little bit bold of her.”

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Beth Harris, The Associated Press