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finalfourheadercenter.gif (2633bytes) 1978 Champs 1978 chart

Site: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles

For the first time neither Delta State (Cleveland, Miss.) or Philadelphia's Immaculata College reached the Final Four. UCLA, which brought a 31-game home winning streak into the final, held a one-point lead at half before pulling away. Four Bruins -- Anita Ortega (23), Ann Meyers (20), Denis Curry (18) and Heidi Nestor (13) -- scored in double digits.

Interesting Fact: The victory by scholarship-rich UCLA all but ended the small-school dominance of women's basketball.

Surprise: Tennessee and Wayland Baptist, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, were favored to make the final. But Tennessee never got past the regional, and Wayland Baptist was upended in the semifinals.

SI's Take: "So many people were wandering around Los Angeles last week saying that this year's AIAW tournament would be the one at which women's basketball finally 'arrived' that you half expected a voice to come over the Pauley Pavilion P.A. system proclaiming, 'Women's basketball ... now arriving from obscurity on track seven, upper concourse.' And, in truth, it happened."

On the Tube: The final game was televised nationally for the first time, by NBC.

In the Crowd: NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain was on hand at the Final Four.

Record-setter: The largest crowd (9,351) to witness a women's championship game.

1978 Kodak All America Team: Genia Beasley, North Carolina State; Carol Blazejowski, Montclair State; Debbie Brock, Delta State; Cindy Brogdon, Tennessee; Julie Cross, LSU; Althea Gwyn, Queens; Kathy Harston, Wayland Baptist; Nancy Leiberman, Old Dominion; Ann Meyers, UCLA; Lynette Woodard, Kansas.

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