March Madness: UCLA women’s basketball team is tourney bound

The UCLA Bruins women’s basketball team is seeded No. 4 in the Bridgeport, CT regional for this year’s March Madness.

TheBruins, with an overall 23-8 record, will play the No.13 seedBoise State Broncos. The Broncos play in the Mountain West conference where they tied for third place. They had a strong showing in their conference tournamentbeating Fresno Statein the title game. That win gave the Broncos the automatic bid into March Madness, their first appearance since 2015.

UCLA, ranked 15^thin the nation, earned a No. 4 seed despitefalling to Oregon State, 65-53, in the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament. They had quality wins this season overNo. 8 Stanford,No. 9 Washington, andNo. 10 Oregon State.

The Bruins will have to be sharp against a hot Bronco team that has won10 in a row. But they haveyet to wina NCAA tournament game in 4 appearances.

As the No. 4 seed, the Bruins are awarded home games for the first two rounds of the tournament. This means the Broncos will be coming toPauley Pavilionwhere their opponent enjoys a27 home-game win streak. This home-court advantage helped the Bruins last year too when theywontheir first two at home to advance to the Sweet-16 for the first time since 1999.

More fromUCLA

• USC Football: Pac-12 released schedule with Sept. 26 start date
• UCLA Bruins season ends against Cal with a 28-18 loss
• UCLA Football: Staff predictions vs. California Golden Bears
• Staff predictions for the UCLA Bruins vs. the USC Trojans
• USC-UCLA Football: Three reasons it’s the best rivalry

But home-court advantage and win streaks do not guarantee a victory. The Bruins will need to produce some offense and be aggressive on defense and under the basket if they want to advance to the second round.

They will rely heavily on their twoAll-Pac-12 teamandPac-12 All-Defensive teamplayers, junior guardJordin Canadaand senior forwardMonique Billings.

Should the Bruins get past the Broncos on Saturday, which I suspect they will, they will play again on Monday night against the winner of No. 5Texas A&Mvs. No.12Pennsylvania.

If they manage to win that one they have the potential monster matchup with the all-powerfulUConn Huskieswho are the clear favorite to win it all, and who are enjoying quite awin streakof their own.

Next: Dodgers Outfield Preview

Tip off from Pauley Pavilion for Saturday’s game is at 3:30pm on ESPN2.

Add us as a preferred source onGoogle

Follow