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The UCLA women’s basketball team’s 61-54 loss to Purdue in the second round of the NCAA Tournament marked the end of two of the most prolific careers the program has produced.

Senior guards Nikki Blue and Lisa Willis have donned the blue and gold in a meaningful game for the last time. This will not be the end of their playing days, as both are projected to be first-round picks in the upcoming WNBA Draft. Both Blue and Willis have said in recent weeks that the experience of college basketball is not something that will be easily recaptured in the professional ranks.

After losing to the Boilermakers and returning home to finish the winter quarter, both players said they will need some time before they can truly put their collegiate careers in perspective.

“Unless we won the title, my last game was going to be a loss,” said Willis, who averaged 17.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game her senior year. “Going into the tournament, I knew it could all end quickly.”

Blue and Willis have approached the end of their Bruin careers and graduation differently. Blue expressed bittersweet sentiments about departing the school and her “little sisters” on the basketball team.

Willis is not the least bit shy about admitting that while she has “never regretted” coming to UCLA, she is excited to embark on the next stage of her life.

After all the build-up and speculation, both players have officially finished their respective careers. Blue stands as the fifth-leading scorer in the history of UCLA women’s basketball with 1,797 points. With five assists against Purdue, Blue now joins Erica Gomez as the only Bruins with at least 600 assists. Blue has 602, behind only Gomez’s 697.

Willis has the ninth-most points in the school’s history with 1,677 and has the most 3-point field goals with 256.

Both said they looked forward to the opportunity to play No. 1 seed North Carolina in the Sweet 16 on the national stage to showcase their skills and the program they helped rebuild. But the loss to Purdue came only two days after winning their first NCAA Tournament game, which has taken some of the sting out of the second-round loss.

“I regret nothing about this year,” said Blue, who averaged 12.4 points and 5.9 assists per game in her last year in Westwood. “I am so proud of the way we finished the year and my career and I hold my head up high.”

TOURNAMENT REVELATION: Freshman center Chinyere Ibekwe, who has seen her playing time this year steadily increase, was on the court more often than starter Amanda Livingston in UCLA’s final game. This is partly due to the fact that Livingston got three first-half fouls and her minutes were limited in the second half. Another reason is that Ibekwe has impressed the UCLA coaching staff with her late season progress. Going up against a Purdue team that was bigger and stronger than perhaps any team in the Pac-10 team, Ibekwe posted six points and nine rebounds in 20 minutes of play.

Livingston, a junior power forward, will return next year; it is uncertain how she and Ibekwe will split duties.

PAC-10 FADES AWAY: UCLA was not the only Pac-10 team to have second-half woes in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

In the Albuquerque Regional, No. 4 seed Arizona State was tied with No. 5 seed Utah at 34-34 at the half in a game that would decide who would advance to play the winner of Ohio State v. Boston College.

The Sun Devils were outscored 52-31 in the second half and lost to the Utes, 86-65. Meanwhile, Boston College upset No. 1 seed Ohio State and moved on to the Sweet 16.

No. 9 seed Washington also couldn’t maintain its first-half success against No. 1 seed LSU in the second-round game out of the San Antonio Regional. The Huskies were leading the heavily favored Tigers 26-23 at the half but were blown out by 26 points in the second half to lose with a final score of 72-49. LSU will now play No. 4 DePaul in the Sweet 16.

THE FINAL TREE: No. 3 seed Stanford is the only Pac-10 program that is still in the tournament. The Cardinal will match up against the No. 2 seed Oklahoma Sooners and the powerful Paris twins in what is a highly anticipated game.

The Pac-10, which had six of its teams received bids to the tournament, has gone 6-5 through the first two rounds.