NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - CALIFORNIA BAPTIST VS UCLA

March 21, 2026

Jarrod Olson

Chance Bucher

Filipa Baros

Pauley Pavilion

California Baptist Lancers

Media Conference

UCLA 96, California Baptist 43

JARROD OLSON: Thanks to everybody that's here. It's a pretty big group for us, so really appreciate you guys coming out. I was really proud of the way our team played, especially in the first half. I mean, that's, in my opinion, that's the best team in the country and we gave them all they could handle for about 20 minutes.

Unfortunately whatever Cori said to them at halftime really got them going in the second half. We had a hard time scoring. I was just really proud of the way we played and we just went for it. That's not an easy thing to do on the road in the NCAA Tournament against a team like that. I felt like for 20 minutes, we showed we belonged, and that was really impressive, and like I said, just really proud of them.

Go ahead and fire away if you guys have questions.

Q. You mentioned what Cori said but what did you say to your players going into that half and coming out at halftime?

JARROD OLSON: Do you remember? I think we were just -- basically, typically at halftime we are pretty chill. Like we're not like going to get too fired up. We just said we kind of went over the game plan again.

It was very similar to what we talked about before the game. We had four pretty big points to kind of like emphasize. We just reminded everybody of that and I also told them I was really proud of the way they played in the first half. I did. I already said it once but I was just really impressed with how they went out and competed against those guys.

Q. How did you guys feel overall especially with that familiar, how you guys played against such a tough team, a more experienced and veteran team?

FILIPA BARROS: I feel good. Our first half was pretty good. We were like very close to them. But of course there's a reason for them to be No. 1 seed and us being No. 16 seed.

So, yeah, I'm still proud of all of my teammates. I think we did a great job.

CHANCE BUCHER: Yeah, I think in that first half, we were just praying basketball, like, you know, that's something that we emphasized a lot like going into this game, like it's just basketball, and I think we succeeded in doing that in the first half, and that's what kept us so close.

Q. Seems like starting off the game your shooting and pace of play was out matching UCLA, contending with the size they have, was that a point of emphasis going into the game?

CHANCE BUCHER: One of our points was to shoot a lot of threes. That's something that I think we are pretty good at. Being undersized, moving the ball around, any catch-and-shoot three and a good catch-and-shoot three. Just getting those up.

Q. Having just played UCLA, what most impresses you about them?

FILIPA BARROS: I think their ball movement was pretty good; the way they moved the ball it was elite, and it was pretty tough for us to guard them.

CHANCE BUCHER: They are good athletes, even just like standing next to them on the court, I'm only 5-7, makes a big difference. I'm like, wow. They are good athletes and they are smart girls, so they play well.

Q. The first half, especially, you guys were really engaged and attacking from all sends. Lauren Betts left very early and had three turnovers. Can you speak to how you approach guarding her given the size and everything?

CHANCE BUCHER: Well, our game plan was to just go one-on-one in the post; that we weren't going to double.

So you know, that's a lot of pressure on our bigs and I think they came out like, okay, let's go. I can be active. I know Grace picked the ball a couple times and made her travel. I think she did a great job, just coming out and being super aggressive not letting her get to her spot with her right hand. She did a good job with that.

FILIPA BARROS: I felt like Grace came with everything in the first quarter, and her main goal was stopping Lauren Betts, and I think she did a great job at the beginning of the game. That's what she said our main goal. Grace was going to play one-on-one with Lauren Betts, and we were going to try and stop the guards.

Q. Can you talk about how much of an impact the Cal Baptiste section, the band, the crowd and the cheerleaders, how much of an impact was that?

FILIPA BARROS: It was a big impact for us because it felt like we were almost playing at home. I think we had more people here from CBU than we usually have at CBU. It was pretty good, and it felt like we were all together and we were on the same page and it helped us a lot.

CHANCE BUCHER: I wasn't expecting -- I didn't know how many people were going to show up. I think it was awesome seeing the amount of people that came out to support us, the people in the band, the people cheering, that was so awesome.

Q. When you guys had it close like that, a 16-seed playing a 1-seed, what is that like?

FILIPA BARROS: Well, my mindset was just trying to like show to everyone that we are better than 16-seed and we had nothing to lose. It was just trying to come with everything, and prove everyone that they were wrong.

CHANCE BUCHER: Yeah. It felt good. We're in the tournament for a reason, whether it's 1-seed or 16-seed. Just getting to go out there, play basketball, represent CBU and play with each other was awesome, yeah.

Q. How does a game like this help your program for exposure and so forth?

JARROD OLSON: I think just making the NCAAs, second time in three years, and just like I said, I think I said to you out in the hallway, being able to hang with a team like that, I think it's the best team in the country. And just even though it was only for half the game, I still think that's a pretty good accomplishment for us. And just kind of like showing everybody we can play.

We take a lot of pride at CBU saying we're going to go out there and play ball. We had shirts this year that say "We Hoop at CBU," and I thought we did that the first half. It was pretty cool.

Q. Your team played with a scrappiness tonight, just that effort level seemed to be a big factor for them, similar to what I asked for them, was that a mentality coming into the game or what was the approach?

JARROD OLSON: We typically pride ourselves on three things, one of them is pace. Like we do play really fast. We're one ever of the quickest-paced teams in the country. Like Chance said, we shoot a lot of trees. Typically we move the ball really well but we weren't able to tonight. UCLA's defense was just so good.

But we made up for a lot of those things, lack of size or lack of athleticism compared to UCLA, with some scrappiness. There's a lot of heart that goes into that, and we showed up big in that area.

Q. Did you have a sense coming into the game that your girls were going to be able to hang with them through the half like they did, or what most impresses you about UCLA?

JARROD OLSON: I mean, I was optimistic and hopeful that we would be able to hang for a little while. I didn't know how long we could do that. I know we have a team that can go out -- we talked a lot about swinging big and just going out and playing basketball and just making it a basketball game and trying it block out some of the noise and I thought we did a really good job of that for 20 minutes. By design, it was like, let's good out there and play ball and keep it simple.

In terms of UCLA, I just think they are the best team. They can really score, and I think tonight was a pretty good example of, when they want to guard, when they want to play D, they can really turn it up a notch. And they have some things to work out still but they have a chance to win the whole thing. They are really good.

They are really good. I was just really proud of our team for, like I said, hanging with them as long as we could because I do think that's as good as you're going to get. Even if it's just for a short time, that's still something to be proud of.