UCLA celebrates basketball title with fans at Pauley Pavilion - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — Lauren Betts and her UCLA teammates celebrated the Bruins' first NCAA women's basketball championship with their fans at Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday night.

«This team is going to go down in history,» Betts said. «We've earned it.»

Betts, Gabriela Jaquez and Charlisse Leger-Walker capped the party by hitting the court to perform their TikTok dance with the championship trophy in the background. Angela Dugalic made a snow angel in the blue-and-gold confetti covering the court.

«This group is so special,» Jaquez told the crowd that filled half the arena. «We're all best friends.»

Jaquez led a spirited eight-clap, the band blared the school fight song, and mascots Joe Bruin and Josephine Bruin danced.

It has been a whirlwind for the Bruins since their 79-51 rout of South Carolina in the title game in Phoenix on Sunday. The game averaged 9.9 million viewers, the third most-viewed women's championship game since 1996.

Coach Cori Close recalled arriving in Westwood as head coach in 2011 and someone saying they didn't know if she could ever make Los Angeles care about women's basketball.

The crowd booed.

«Let me tell you,» she said. «L.A. cares about women's basketball now and you guys helped do that.»

Close received a standing ovation from her team and the crowd that chanted «Cori! Cori!»

«I want to say thank you to you,» she said. «It truly does take a village to go win a championship.»

Eventually, a banner signifying the first NCAA women's basketball title will be raised to the ceiling in Pauley Pavilion, where currently the only women's basketball title banner is from the school's 1978 AIAW championship, the precursor to the NCAA.

«It's getting some company. I can't wait,» said Denise Curry, who starred for