Charisma Osborne’s career-high leads UCLA over Oklahoma in NCAA tournament

If this was Charisma Osborne’s final game in Pauley Pavilion, she ended with an emphatic mic drop.

The senior who could be a high WNBA draft pick this offseason led UCLA to its first Sweet 16 berth since 2019 by dropping a career-high 36 points, eight rebounds and four assists in an 82-73 win over No. 5 seed Oklahoma.

Onto the Sweet 16 for the fifth time under head coach Cori Close, the No. 4 Bruins (27-9) will play No. 1 overall seed South Carolina on Saturday in Greenville, S.C., in a rematch of a close nonconference game that the defending national champions won on their home court.

After a double-double in UCLA’s first-round win against Sacramento State, Osborne tied her previous career high in scoring with three late free throws that gave her 32 points, but it was her mid-range jumper with 1:37 remaining that proved to be the dagger. The shot put the Bruins up 10 after entering the quarter down by one. They salted the game away from the free throw line, where they made 21-of-23 shots in the fourth quarter and 25-for-28 for the game.

UCLA entered the game on pace to set the school record for free throw shooting in a season at 77.4%.

After Osborne drilled two final free throws, Close subbed the senior out of the game. She raised her arms toward the crowd as they stood. Fans sitting near the floor chanted “Thir-ty six! Thir-ty six!”

Like the Bruins did in their first-round game against Sacramento State, they jumped on Oklahoma early. Challenging the 14 unanswered points they hung on Sacramento State, UCLA ripped off a 13-0 run between the first and second quarters against Oklahoma, led by seven points from Osborne.

Emily Bessoir, who has starred in the last five games with 14.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in the postseason, picked up her second foul with 3:19 remaining in the first quarter. But the Bruins turned to Bessoir’s German countrywoman Lina Sontag for a boost off the bench and the freshman delivered with three points, two assists, two rebounds and three blocks in six minutes in the first quarter.

While the 6-foot-3 freshman entered the game averaging just five points and 4.2 rebounds, Sontag has emerged as a key player for the Bruins. Her long frame and high IQ show up in deflections that often go unnoticed.

“She doesn’t have to be the leading scorer, she doesn’t have to be the leading rebounder,” Osborne said last week, “but just seeing all the little hustle plays, it makes you want to play harder because you know she’s going to give it all that she has.”

Sontag helped lock down the explosive Oklahoma offense that was held to its third-lowest point total in a first half this season as UCLA led 41-28 at the break.

But UCLA couldn’t keep the second-best scoring team in the country down all night. The Sooners chopped UCLA’s lead down to one with a 14-0 run in the third quarter. A midrange jumper from Ana Llanusa at the 1:30 mark of the third quarter gave the Sooners a one-point lead, part of an extended 18-2 run.

The Sooners shot 76.9% from the field in the third quarter, but entered the fourth quarter with just a one-point lead after Osborne scored on a three-point play with four seconds left. When she saw her contested layup drop through the net, she pumped her fist and yelled as gave the Bruins late lift going into the final frame.

The momentum carried over as the Bruins started the fourth quarter by forcing three turnovers on Oklahoma’s first four possessions. On offense, UCLA’s freshmen stepped up. Londynn Jones put the Bruins back in front with a driving layup on the first possession. It was her first basket of the game.

Jones, who was named to the Pac-12 all-freshman team, and Gabriela Jaquez scored all UCLA’s first six points of the fourth quarter.

Jaquez finished with seven points and four rebounds off the bench.