SACRAMENTO – Sometimes you just have to find the way.
Before tip-off inside the Golden 1 Center on Sunday, the national anthem singer’s microphone cut off just moments of the song.
But as if on cue, the crowd broke the uneasy silence by singing along. By the end of the song, a new microphone was found and everyone was in sync.
Over the next two hours, it was a similar arc for the UCLA women’s basketball team.
After being completely out of sorts in the first half, the Bruins stuck together, and no one wanted this run to end short of a Final Four for the six seniors who have done so much for this program.
There’s more basketball to play for top-seeded UCLA after its 70-58 win over third-seeded Duke in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
The Bruins surged ahead on a 15-2 run to end the third quarter and open the fourth, shaking off their early turnover woes to reach their second straight Final Four.
“The last four!” The jubilant fans cheered in the final minute. “The last four!”
UCLA (35-1) will play Texas or Michigan in the national semifinals Friday at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix in the Bruins’ second straight Final Four appearance.
They will seek their first NCAA title after losing to UConn in the semifinals last year.
Center Lauren Bates topped the Blue Devils (27-9) with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks. The Bruins also got a big spark off the bench from Angela Dugalic, who had 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.
The season continues after UCLA solved its turnover issues and outscored Duke, 20-8, in the third quarter.
UCLA could finally forget its early woes late in the third quarter when Gianna Knipkens went up for a straightforward 3-pointer that pushed the Bruins up 47-45. The Kneepkens screamed in celebration while the Bruins fans who filled most of the lower part of the arena howled in delight.
Dugalic followed with a turnaround jumper, layup and rebound that was fouled. By the time she made the resulting free throw, the Bruins led 56-47 at the start of the fourth quarter and were on pace for their 29th straight win.
It didn’t take long for UCLA to realize it faced a very different challenge than it faced in November en route to a 30-point blowout for the Blue Devils without Lauren and Sienna Betts.
Coming off a breathless buzzer beater against LSU two days ago, Duke was fearless in attacking the Bruins from the opening tip.
The Blue Devils built an early double-digit lead, based in large part on the strength of UCLA’s put-downs.
After a first half in which her team struggled to run its offense, UCLA coach Corey Close huddled with point guards Kiki Rice and Charles Leger-Walker in front of the bench before heading to the locker room.
The Bruins committed 12 turnovers — many of them unforced — in falling into a 39-31 halftime gap, and that was after a relatively clean five minutes to close the half.
Midway through the second quarter, UCLA had already recorded 10 turnovers. Leger-Walker tried to find Angela Dugalic inside with a bounce pass that went out of bounds. Kneepkens went out of bounds. Lauren Bates committed an offensive foul. The Bruins were unable to punt the ball on another possession, resulting in a shot clock violation.
The list continued.
Meanwhile, Duke executed at a much higher level while building a 10-point lead. The Blue Devils did a good job of denying Lauren Bates the ball or rallying her when she finally got it. Betts had eight points on five meager shots to grab just two rebounds midway through the game.
Things will soon get better for Bates and her team.