No. 5 UCLA women overcome slow start to beat No. 17 Louisville 66-59 in Paris
PARIS (AP) — Lauren Betts had 18 points and four blocks as No. 5 UCLA beat No. 17 Louisville 66-59 in the second match of a season-opening doubleheader in France on Monday.
Timea Gardiner had 15 points and Londynn Jones contributed 13 for UCLA.
Tajianna Roberts had a game-high 21 points for Louisville, which opened up an 18-13 lead at the end of the first quarter but then proved wasteful in attack.
Louisville was 6 of 29 from 3-point range compared to 8 of 23 for UCLA. Gardiner made five of them and Jones was a perfect 4 of 4 from the free-throw line.
The 8,000-capacity Adidas Arena, home to the men’s Paris Basketball team, was just over half full for the second game.
Earlier Monday, No. 3 Southern California scored in the final seconds to beat Mississippi 68-66.
UCLA: The imposing physicality of Betts and Gardiner on defense did much to contain Louisville's speedy attacks. The standout pair also combined at the other end for Gardiner's neat 3-pointer from wide right late in the game.
Louisville: Louisville had some good scoring bursts but could not sustain them long enough to put UCLA under significant pressure.
Betts found Jones with a cross-court pass for a 3-pointer on the second-quarter buzzer, as UCLA took a 32-29 halftime lead to stem Louisville’s momentum.
75 — Betts' shooting percentage, making nine of her 12 shots.
Louisville has a short turnaround before hosting Southern Indiana on Friday and UCLA is at home to Colgate at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday.
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.