INDIANAPOLIS — Gianna Kneepkens scored 19 points and Kiki Rice added 15 with eight assists as second-ranked, top-seeded UCLA rolled to a 96-45 win against ninth-ranked, second-seeded Iowa, in the Big Ten women’s basketball championship game Sunday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Rice, a senior guard who has spent her entire collegiate career with the Bruins, was named MVP of the Big Ten tournament, which UCLA won for the second year in a row.
It’s the first time the Bruins (31-1), who left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten ahead of the 2024-25 season, have captured back-to-back conference tournament titles, and it’s also the first time they have won regular-season and league tourney titles in the same season. They also extended their program-record streak for wins to 25 and their Big Ten winning streak to 24 games, dating to last season’s tourney run.
And they did it with most the lopsided margin of championship victory in Big Ten tournament history, easily surpassing Iowa’s 33-point win over Ohio State in 2023. Six players scored in double figures Sunday for UCLA, including Sienna Betts — the younger sister of star center Lauren Betts — who matched her season high with 14 points. Lauren had 10 points in 24 minutes and was dancing with her teammates after the final buzzer.
“For us to come out the way we did, it means a lot because we’re doing it against really good teams,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “I want to just say thank you to the incredible players who really fulfilled their mission and stayed committed to the character qualities we needed to make this run.”