No. 3 UCLA routs Purdue 96-48 to take sole possession of first place in Big Ten

Gabriela Jaquez scored 25 points on 10-of-11 shooting, and No. 3 UCLA routed Purdue 96-48 on Wednesday night to take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.

The Bruins (18-1, 8-0) moved out of a tie with idle Iowa with their 12th straight win.

UCLA took control from tipoff, scoring the game's first seven points and ending the quarter with consecutive midrange jumpers from Lauren Betts in a display of the 6-foot-7 senior's range. She had eight points in eight minutes. Betts finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds

The Bruins outscored Purdue 27-7 over the end of the first and start of the second quarter. Kiki Rice scored nine points, Gianna Kneepkens had eight and Betts six. The spurt gave UCLA a 29-point lead, its biggest of the half before going into the break ahead 46-20.

The Bruins were overwhelming on the defensive end, too. They forced 14 turnovers that led to 20 points in the first two quarters, held the Boilermakers to 1 of 11 3-pointers, and 8-of-27 shooting from the field.

Nya Smith scored 14 points for Purdue (10-9, 2-6), which fell to 1-7 on the road. Avery Gordon, a rare 6-7 equal to Betts, had 13 points.

The Boilermakers shot 57% and barely got outscored 22-18 in the third, but still trailed 68-38 going into the fourth, when they were held to 10 points.

Jaquez pumped up the Bruins after they missed their first four shots in the third. She ran off 10 straight points to open the quarter and kept it up in the fourth with personal runs of 6-0 and 7-0.

Up next

Purdue: Hosts rival Indiana on Sunday.

UCLA: Visits Northwestern on Sunday to open a two-game Midwest trip.