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By Megan Armstrong
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Sports photographer Bri Lewerke captured the exhilarating victory and excruciating defeat when she photographed UCLA's Lauren Betts and Texas' Madison Booker side by side during their Final Four matchup on Friday night.
Betts has her hands on her head while smiling in disbelief, while Booker has her hands on her head while looking dejected.
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The No. 1 UCLA Bruins defeated the No. 1 Texas Longhorns 51-44 to advance to their first women's NCAA Tournament national championship game in program history. Texas came within three with one minute left, but couldn't complete the comeback.
With three seconds remaining, ESPN caught Texas head coach Vic Schaefer comforting a frustrated Rori Harmon. The star senior guard started crying, but Schaefer held steady and calmed her down with an encouraging message.
Texas women's basketball posted a video across its official social media accounts showing Schaefer addressing a somber Longhorns locker room.
"You've all been so, so valuable to us, you seniors," Schaefer said. "You've meant a great deal to our program, to our university, to our fans, and to me personally. I want to thank you for that."
Schaefer added, "We got it down to three. We had 'em right where we wanted them. We just couldn't get that one last stop. Again, it's that deal where it's only one possession, y'all. We gotta learn from it. We gotta learn from it. I'm awfully proud."
Texas has made the women's NCAA Tournament every year since Schaefer became head coach in 2020. The Longhorns have been a No. 1 seed and lost in the Final Four in back-to-back years — last year falling 74-57 to the No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Longhorns have gone 35-4 in each of the past two seasons, too.
No. 1 UCLA will face No. 1 South Carolina in the women's national championship game at 3:30 p.m. EST on Sunday. The game will air on ABC and ESPN.
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