UCLA beats Marquette, wins Battle 4 Atlantis title
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas - Freshman Kiki Rice scored 18 points and Gina Conti added 16 to help No. 20 UCLA hold off Marquette 66-58 in overtime to win the Battle 4 Atlantis championship Monday.
Senior Charisma Osborne had just nine points after two big tournament games, but she was named the tournament's most valuable player after joining with Conti and senior Camryn Brown to make down-the-stretch plays that guided the Bruins (6-0) to the title.
Osborne shot just 4 of 16, but she scored the first basket of OT on a tough runner to put the Bruins ahead to stay. That was part of a game-closing flurry that saw Osborne, Conti and Brown combine to score eight of UCLA's last nine baskets starting from late in the third quarter.
Brown finished with just four points but had six rebounds and five steals, including one for a runout basket for a 57-53 lead in OT.
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Chloe Marotta scored 15 points to lead the Golden Eagles (5-1), though Jordan King had just 10 points before fouling out early in overtime.
The Bruins and Eagles threw the second-ever Atlantis women's tournament off its projected course with upsets. First there was Marquette beating No. 3 Texas in Saturday's first round, then UCLA followed with a romp against No. 11 Tennessee in Sunday's semifinals.
A year after a 1-vs-2 matchup between South Carolina and Connecticut for the title, this year's championship paired two unranked teams at tipoff — though the Bruins entered the new AP Top 25 during the game and played the second half as a ranked team.