LOS ANGELES — The UCLA women’s basketball team kicked off its quest for the program’s first Final Four appearance by routing Southern, 84-46, in an NCAA Tournament first-round game on Friday night at Pauley Pavilion.

Lauren Betts had 14 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots, and Londynn Jones scored 11 points for the Bruins (31-2), who are the tournament’s top overall seed.

Janiah Barker provided a spark off the bench with 10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocks, while Kiki Rice finished with 10 points and seven assists and Gabriela Jaquez added 10 points.

The Bruins advanced to face eighth-seeded Richmond on Sunday at Pauley Pavilion for a berth in the Sweet Sixteen. The Spiders routed Georgia Tech, 74-49, for their school’s first NCAA Tournament victory behind 30 points and 15 rebounds from Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Maggie Doogan.

The 6-foot-4 Barker was an important part of a 9-0 UCLA run to begin the second half, blowing a kiss to the crowd after the success. She blocked a shot almost immediately after coming off the bench, kicking off a sequence that ended in a Jaquez layup. Thirty seconds later, Barker grabbed an offensive rebound and bumped a defender off her before passing to Rice, who was waiting on the perimeter.

Rice sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key to extend what had been a 12-point halftime lead to 47-26.

Aniya Gourdine had 10 points to lead 16th-seeded Southern (21-15), which beat UC San Diego in the First Four on Wednesday for the program’s first NCAA Tournament win.

Back on the same court 48 hours later, the SWAC regular-season and tournament champions had difficulties penetrating UCLA’s perimeter defense from the outset.

UCLA held Southern to 11 points in the first quarter and opened a 12-point lead. Rice kept feeding her teammates throughout the first half, and the Bruins shot 5 for 9 from 3-point range before halftime.

The Jaguars regrouped and played the Bruins even in the second quarter, going on a 6-0 scoring run late in the second quarter after a series of calls went in their favor. Taniya Lawson pulled up for a jumper that cut UCLA’s lead to 36-24 in the final minute, then Betts and Southern’s Sky Castro traded layups to keep it a 12-point margin at the intermission.

The Bruins leveraged the early momentum of the third quarter and outscored the Jaguars 21-7 in the period for a 59-33 lead, and the big cushion allowed Coach Cori Close to monitor her starters’ minutes the rest of the night. UCLA outrebounded Southern 44-23, and eight Bruins finished with at least nine points.

UCLA is in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season and the ninth time in 13 tournaments under Close, but the Bruins have made just one regional final in those first eight appearances. They spent 13 weeks atop the AP Top 25 this season and won the Big Ten Tournament last week by knocking off rival and fellow No. 1 seed USC.