There was so much to celebrate long before Cori Close snipped the final strand of net and twirled the nylon over her head.
A championship season had so many special moments for the UCLA women’s basketball team.
The Bruins won a school-record 37 games – including 31 in a row to end the season – while claiming the program’s first NCAA title.
In addition to a new banner being raised inside Pauley Pavilion, there could be more jerseys to retire after Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez and their teammates elevated the program to new heights.
Here are the top 10 moments from a season to remember:
After noticing that sisters Lauren and Sienna Betts had broken out an impromptu dance during a preseason practice, Close ordered them to perform the full routine for their teammates.
They were the first memorable moves in a seasonlong dance party.
Jaquez had to improve her shooting to land a UCLA scholarship. Once she got to campus, she kept making tweaks.
Her dedication was rewarded inside Pauley Pavilion in late November. Jaquez made five of six 3-pointers and scored 29 points to power the Bruins to a 99-77 victory over No. 14 Tennessee.
It was a sign of things to come during a season in which Jaquez made a career-best 39% of her 3-pointers – up from 34% as a freshman.
After noticing that Lauren Betts was crying in the locker room before a game against Penn State in December, Close asked her star center what was going on.
A girl had just told Betts that her having shared her mental health struggles in an ESPN story had saved the girl’s life.
Betts would go on to share her story again in another article later in the season in The Players’ Tribune.
It was a trip in which a season could go sideways.
As mighty as they were, the Bruins faced plenty of challenges on the road in February against No. 8 Michigan and No. 13 Michigan State.
UCLA edged Michigan, 69-66, before blowing out Michigan State by 23 points in typical teamwork fashion, with four starters scoring in double figures.
What started as a whim – give us 1,000 likes on this video and we’ll do a dance – turned into a sensation.
Jaquez and Charlisse Leger-Walker got the votes, added Lauren Betts as a third partner, and fulfilled their promise, joining the UCLA spirit squad at halftime of a men’s basketball game while performing to Tate McRae’s “Just Keep Watching.”
It became a celebratory anthem for the trio, who repeatedly broke out the same routine after big victories the rest of the season.
After three epic battles between the crosstown rivals the previous season, there were only blowouts this time.
UCLA beat USC by 34 points when the teams met at Pauley Pavilion before winning by 23 when they faced one another at the Galen Center.
The enduring image might have been former Bruins star Reggie Miller clapping from courtside while sister Cheryl, the Trojans legend seated next to him, took a disapproving look at her brother and shook her head.
Championship games are supposed to be fraught with drama and momentum changes.
UCLA bolted to a big early lead against Iowa and kept piling on in the Big Ten Tournament title game.
The Bruins’ 51-point blowout of the Hawkeyes set a record for the most lopsided championship game in conference tournament history and served notice that there was no stopping this team.
The road to the Final Four looked like it might end one stop short.
Failing to match their usual level of aggression, the Bruins fell into an eight-point halftime hole against Duke in the Sweet 16. It was only the second time all season they had trailed at halftime – the first coming in their only loss, against Texas.
Getting back to its winning habits, UCLA outscored the Blue Devils, 20-8, in the third quarter and didn’t slow down on the way to a 70-58 victory.
It would have been easy to fold in a rematch against Texas in the Final Four given that the Longhorns were the nation’s only team that had shown it could beat the Bruins.
In a rock fight of a rematch, UCLA cast the final stones, persevering for a 51-44 triumph.
The Bruins had gotten their revenge and now beaten everyone on their schedule. There was only one game between them and the program’s first NCAA title.
The biggest stage. The toughest opponent. The team that had just knocked off mighty UConn.
Sticking to their principles, the Bruins came out as loose as if this was a scrimmage for charity. Kiki Rice’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the first quarter was a sign of things to come for a team that showed no fear.
Ahead by 29 points going into the fourth quarter, the celebration could begin.
After the final buzzer in UCLA’s 79-51 victory, it began in earnest. There were championship hats to put on, a trophy to hoist and yes, one last dance.
