UCLA women’s basketball team has added some star power as its revamped roster begins to take shape.
Former Iowa State forward Addy Brown announced Thursday she is committing to UCLA, giving the Bruins one of the top players in the portal.
Brown averaged 11.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 43.1% from the floor and 33.8% from three-point distance with the Cyclones last season. She played just 21 games due to injury, but she is one of the better two-way players in the nation on the transfer market.
The 6-foot-2 forward co-starred with Audi Crooks for Iowa State the past few seasons and was a part of the mass exodus from the Cyclones’ program.
UCLA also signed Arkansas sophomore guard Bonnie Deas earlier this month. She is likely to start at point guard for the Bruins and is one of the best rebounding guards in the nation.
Along with returner Timea Gardiner, the Bruins are starting to form somewhat of a core to defend their national championship. Gardiner was a starter during UCLA’s 2024-25 Final Four run, but missed all of this past season with injury and has one season of eligibility left.
A lineup with Deas and Aarnisalo in the backcourt, Hunter at the three and Gardiner or Brown at the four and adding another big or Sienna Betts at the five would be a competitive lineup in the Big Ten.
Before going to TCU, Hunter played two seasons at Oregon State where she earned All-Pac-12 Defensive Team honorable mention and All-Pac-12 Freshman team honors. This past season with a Horned Frogs team that went to the Sweet 16, she was third in scoring with 10.2 points per game and averaged 3.2 rebounds per contest. She also shot 45.7% from the field and was 33.7% from beyond the arc.
Aarnisalo played her freshman year in Westwood after she originally committed to UCLA in 2025. Due to injuries from point guard Kiki Rice at the start of the 2024-25 season, she was forced into action early her freshman season and finished the year averaging 5.1 points per game.
The Helsinki, Finland, native averaged 10.2 points per game for the Tar Heels as a sophomore last season while shooting 47.3% from the field and 40.3% from the arc. The Bruins will desperately need to replace the three-point production lost with the departure of Rice, Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker.
UCLA coach Cori Close said she wanted to sign five players from the portal. She probably needs one more guard and a little more forward depth coming off the bench following the departures of Gabriela Jaquez and Angela Dugalic.
Lena Bilic and Amanda Muse are returners coming off the bench who got a little bit of playing time in the tournament and should have much larger roles, but they are still relatively unproven in late-game situations. They will get a chance to develop as backups with some more Power Four experienced starters now in the fold.
Spring practice continued for the UCLA football program Tuesday morning at Spaulding Field and for the most part head coach Bob Chesney was pleased with his team’s progress.
It marked the sixth of 14 practices leading up to the annual spring game on May 2 at the Rose Bowl.
“The defense took strides today,” said Chesney, who was hired as the Bruins’ 20th head football coach on Dec. 26, replacing DeShaun Foster (fired after an 0-3 start in 2025) and interim coach Tim Skipper. “There were a couple turnovers in there. This was our second day with the officials, it was a different group and they were throwing some flags today. We just have to understand the game we’re in. As you get further along the referees step aside, but early in the season they’re excited to do their jobs and we gave them enough to throw laundry at so we’ll go back and check it all out.”
Receiver Semaj Morgan caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Nico Iamaleava, tight end Brayden Lofton made several fine catches, Troy Leigber rushed for a touchdown, and Donavyn Pellot and Robert Stafford III had interceptions on defense as the squad is motivated to rebound from a 3-9 season (3-6 in Big Ten) — its worst since its debut season under Chip Kelly in 2018.
“Practice six is usually when it dips a little bit,” said Chesney, who led James Madison to the Sun Belt Conference championship and a berth in the College Football Playoff last season. “On defense we did not, on offense we probably slowed down just a little bit. I didn’t feel a dip from the group, which is great, but usually around now is when that starts to happen. [Practices] six, seven, eight are a little bit of a fight and then you gotta come back when you get to nine, 10 and 11. I thought they did a good job today, not a great job, but you have those days. It’s the nature of the beast. I didn’t see any steps backward from anybody, just a little bit of a lull from what they were bringing the other day. ”
One position group that has impressed Chesney since he arrived in Westwood is running back — a unit that returns a number of players.
“Everybody has their pluses and minuses, everyone has things they’re really good at and things they’re mediocre at and our job every day is taking what’s mediocre and turning it into good — and eventually great — and playing to their strengths,” Chesney said. “Each of them has their own running style. I’ve been impressed with them, they’re one of the stronger groups on this team. It’s necessary as a running back for that to be the case. You have to be durable enough, you have to keep your pad level low and keep your body healthy because there’s probably not another position out there that takes as much of a beating … you’re getting tackled by guys who are sometimes much bigger than you.”
Defensive back Scooter Jackson was not at Tuesday’s practice but Chesney expects him to be back Thursday. Offensive lineman Jordan Davis is dealing with a shoulder injury.
“He’s got range, he just doesn’t feel like he has the full strength yet … but he’s close,” Chesney said of Davis. “On Saturday it was a little worse than it is today, so he’s slowly getting better.”
Chesney praised cornerback DJ Barksdale, an All-Sun Belt selection who transferred from James Madison — a player he knows well.
“The nickel and slot corner is important in the bubble game and the screen game,” Chesney said. “You’ve got to be able to fight through some things physically. You’re also tied in a lot as the bonus in the run game and then there’s times when you’re not there and you’re playing straight man-to-man on the other team’s quickest, best receiver so the skillset you’ve got to carry, the confidence you’ve got to carry and the physicality you’ve got to carry is significant. DJ possesses all of those.”
Chesney is excited about the depth in the defensive backfield.
“Rob [Stafford] did a good job,: he said. “In the red zone he’s been really sticky in coverage and he’s done a really nice job. He’s starting to click with his playbook and understand it and that’s kind of where everyone is at this stage of the game, we’re in practice six so everything we’ve done up to this point is six days of full speed stuff. Osiris [Gilbert] made a really big play on a ball that we had trouble with Saturday. To learn and carry that over from the previous practice into the film room and actuality execute it out here was great to see. Jhase McMillan is doing a great job. We’re rotating them through, we put them in different positions to test them in fire and see who can handle all of it. They’re a little more involved in the running game now, Cover 2 things and corner pressures, blitzing off the edge, they’ve done a really nice job.”
Asked who has stood out in the trenches, Chesney cited Aiden Gobaira, Julian Armella and Riley Robell.
“What’s impressed me most about Julian is his passion for this game,” Chesney said. “He’s got to harness that the right way. I’m sure there’s moments when you play with that much emotion and passion it can tip over, but I’ve been impressed with that part. He uplifts a lot of people when he’s out there. There’s never a moment where he’s just out here and it’s not important — it’s all important to him and that’s infectious.”
Pressuring the quarterback is a defensive priority for Chesney and his staff. A year ago the Bruins tied for last in the Big Ten in pass defense, allowing opponents to complete 66% of their passes.
“On the defensive side we have to continue to take bigger steps,” he said. “Our pass rush looks good, the interior pass rush is something we have to work on. A lot of the games that we’re playing inside we’ve got to continue to fine tune things because obviously the offense knows they’re coming and the element of surprise gets defeated The defense is doing a nice job setting them up, then it’s cool watching the chess match go on between both sides.”
Chesney is known for his emphasis on special teams and the Bruins ran drills throughout Tuesday’s practice focused on that phase of the game.
“I don’t want it to be an afterthought — I want to make sure it’s involved in everything we do,” Chesney stated. “I want it to feel like a game as much as it possibly can but I also want our long snapper, our holder, our kickers and our protection guys to know that the whole team is relying on you so when we put them in those situations at the end to pin the ball, they have to know they have to hold up their end of the bargain.”
What has surprised Chesney most in his first few months in Westwood?
“The alums who come out continually and who like being around this program is something I’d hoped for,” Chesney said. “I understood that practices were maybe different and closed and not open to everybody before, but it’s open to all of our alums and to high school coaches. I’d hoped it would happen and to see it actually transpiring day to day is exciting.”
UCLA’s next practice is Thursday on Spaulding Field at Wasserman Football Center.
This year’s WNBA draft is bigger than ever with two expansion teams joining the league. It’s also a top-heavy draft, with a ton of depth in the first round and no clear first overall pick.
This is also the first year teams will be selecting talent knowing players can be signed to two developmental roster spots per team that don’t count against the salary cap, which might change the way teams use their picks.
The Sparks don’t pick until the mid-second round, but they should have options to help address depth needs. Here’s how the draft is projected to unfold.
First round
1. Dallas Wings: Awa Fam | C | Spain | 6-foot-4
This is one of the first years in recent memory without an obvious No. 1 overall pick. Fam could go anywhere from first to fourth, but the 19-year-old would benefit from an environment where she doesn’t have to dominate right away. The Wings also need size.
2. Minnesota Lynx: Olivia Miles | G | TCU | 5-foot-10
The Texas Christian star nearly averaged a triple-double during the Horned Frogs’ Elite Eight run and she is the best point guard in this draft. Minnesota needs backcourt depth.
UConn guard Azzi Fudd dribbles up the court during Sweet 16 game against North Carolina on March 27 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Fudd’s stock might have dropped because of an underwhelming NCAA tournament, but she is still a pro-ready offensive threat who will get playing time with a rebuilding Storm squad.
4. Washington Mystics: Flau’jae Johnson | G | LSU | 6-foot
Johnson could join an up-and-coming Washington squad as a three-level scorer who can play defense as a two-way guard. With second-year player Sonia Citron already ahead of her at her position, the Mystics can develop Johnson.
5. Chicago Sky: Kiki Rice | G | UCLA | 5-foot-11
The Sky need a guard who can score and defend, and with Courtney Vandersloot out to start the season, Rice might get some early playing time. She can rebound and scrap for loose balls too, and with Ariel Atkins reportedly being traded, Rice could play a big role.
6. Toronto Tempo: Lauren Betts | C | UCLA | 6-foot-7
Betts could become one of the faces of the new franchise as a starting center. She is a pro-ready post scorer who can continue to develop defensively and play against bigger players.
UCLA guard Kiki Rice drives around South Carolina Gamecocks guard Raven Johnson during the NCAA championship game on April 4.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
7. Portland Fire: Nell Angloma | F | France | 5-foot-11
Angloma needs time to develop, but general manager Vanja Cernivec has seen her plenty. She is a physical guard who has proven she can score against much older players.
8. Golden State Valkyries: Gabriela Jaquez | F | UCLA | 6 feet
Jaquez can score and win rebounds and would fit in well with the Valkyries’ scrappy style. She fits in a clear role and is the type of player coach Natalie Nakase and company prefer to draft. Jaquez could have some electric games off the bench.
With three first-round picks, the Mystics could consider a draft-and-stash here, and that might just be Carrion. She’s a good shooter and passer and plays bigger than her size. They can be patient and develop her into a starting point guard in a few years.
10. Indiana Fever: Madina Okot | C | South Carolina | 6-foot-6
Indiana can add the third-best center in the draft early here and get a physical player who can create space on the floor as long as she can assert herself in the post.
11. Washington: Raven Johnson | G | South Carolina | 5-foot-9
Johnson’s defensive ability and facilitating skills make her one of the most WNBA-ready players in the draft. Her shutdown defense on Sarah Strong in the Final Four showed she can handle tough assignments.
McMahon could get early playing time as a ballhandler for a Sun team in transition that needs versatility. She can make her own shot and slot in wherever Connecticut needs her.
UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez dribble past Carolina Gamecocks forward Joyce Edwards during the NCAA women’s championship on April 4.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
13. Atlanta Dream: Ta’Niya Latson | G | South Carolina | 5-foot-8
There was a time when Latson was the best scorer in the college game, and she could join an Atlanta team building both to win now and for a future run. She wouldn’t be relied on too heavily, which would give her room to develop as a scorer at the pro level.
14. Seattle: Marta Suarez | F | TCU | 6-foot-3
Suarez may have seen her WNBA draft stock rise the most this season, her first at TCU, where she led the Horned Frogs to a Sweet 16 game in which she scored 33 points. She’s an older prospect at 24 but still kind of raw. She could help a Storm team trying to find itself.
15. Connecticut: Gianna Kneepkens | G | UCLA | 5-foot-11
Kneepkens is a shooter who can play decent defense and is likely as WNBA-ready as anyone in this first round. She could jump in off the bench and make some serious shots, developing into a starter pretty quickly.
Second round
16. Seattle: Frieda Buhner | G | Spain | 6-foot-2
A big guard, Buhner can shoot the three-ball when she’s at her best, collect rebounds and bang in the post.
17. Portland: Jessica Timmons | G | Alabama | 5-foot-8
Timmons had a breakout year for Alabama as an All-SEC player. She can create her own offense and hit shots.
UCLA forward Angela Dugalic shoots over South Carolina forward Joyce Edwards during the NCAA championship on April 4 in Phoenix.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
18. Connecticut: Angela Dugalic | F | UCLA | 6-foot-4
At 24, Dugalic will be one of the more experienced rookies in the WNBA, which could help mold a Sun team in transition. A tough interior presence who also can shoot from distance, Dugalic was arguably the best bench player in the nation during UCLA’s title run.
19. Washington: Shay Ciezki | G | Indiana | 5-foot-7
After averaging 22.8 points per game, Ciezki proved she can score in a variety of ways. She is undersized but could get time to develop on the young Mystics.
20. Sparks: Charlisse Leger-Walker | G | UCLA | 5-foot-8
The first pick for the Sparks of this draft, they stay close to home and get a much-needed ballhandler who can hang defensively. Leger-Walker went from a flashy three-point scorer at Washington State to a well-rounded player who can add energy to the Sparks’ bench.
21. Chicago: Yarden Garzon | G | Maryland | 6-foot-3
Garzon did not have a great senior campaign with Maryland, but Chicago needs guard depth, and she has size and can shoot from distance.
UCLA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker slips past Minnesota guard Tori McKinney and scores on March 27 in Sacramento.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
22. Toronto: Janiah Barker | F | Tennessee | 6-foot-4
A 6-4 forward who can shoot, Barker has plenty of talent but moved around a lot in her college career. Toronto can be patient with her.
23. Golden State: Serah Williams | C| UConn | 6-foot-4
The Valkyries might need some size with Monique Billings moving on and Temi Fagbenle’s future unclear.
24. Sparks: Teoni Key | F | Kentucky | 6-foot-5
Key would give the Sparks some size off the bench behind Cameron Brink, Nneka Ogwumike and Dearica Hamby. Key is more physical than Brink and could give her a bit of a break in the post.
25. Indiana: Ashlon Jackson | G | Duke | 6-foot
Jackson had perhaps the most iconic shot of the NCAA tournament with her game-winner in the Sweet 16 over Louisiana State with 2.5 seconds left.
Michigan State forward Grace VanSlooten dribbles the ball during a game against Washington on Jan. 8.
(Stephen Brashear / Associated Press)
26. Toronto: Grace VanSlooten | G | Michigan State | 6-foot-3
An elite two-point shooter for the Spartans, VanSlooten has a high motor on the offensive side and can play a quick defensive game.
As an undersized but scrappy guard, underestimate Harmon at your own risk. One of the peskiest point-of-attack defenders in the country, Harmon was named to four all-defense teams during her time at Texas.
28. Atlanta: Dari Littlepage-Buggs | F | Baylor | 6-foot-1
A strong rebounder who can move the ball upcourt, Littlepage-Buggs is worth a pick to see how she might adapt to the WNBA. She is someone whom the developmental slots might help a lot.
29. Las Vegas Aces: Maggie Doogan | F | Richmond | 6-foot-2
The Aces already have a core in place, but Doogan has enough upside to be worth a late-round pick as a reliable bench shooter.
30. Washington: Justine Pissott | F | Vanderbilt | 6-foot-4
Another versatile player, Pissott was a part of a dynamic Vanderbilt offense this season. She can space the floor and add depth to the Mystics.
Third round
31. Dallas: Laila Phelia | F | Syracuse | 6-foot
Phelia is a solid defensive forward who can shoot well for her position.
32. Chicago: Tonie Morgan | G | Kentucky | 5-foot-9
Morgan is a terrific passer who can attack downhill.
Texas center Kyla Oldacre shoots over UCLA center Lauren Betts during a Final Four game on April 3 in Phoenix.
(Rick Scuteri / Associated Press)
33. Connecticut: Kyla Oldacre | C | Texas | 6-foot-6
This would be a pure depth pick after the Sun added Brittney Griner.
34. Washington: Kara Dunn | G | USC | 5-foot-11
Dunn has averaged better than 15 points per game during each of her last three seasons (two at Georgia Tech and one at USC) and been efficient in doing so, most recently shooting 57.3% from the field and 37.8% from three-point range.
35. Sparks: Jalyn Brown | G | Michigan State | 6-foot-1
An incredibly efficient shooter, Brown has size and is a three-level scorer who has been a top perimeter defender in the Big 12 and Big Ten. She is a true wing and could give the Sparks a developmental player with a high floor.
36. Toronto: Lani White | F | Utah | 6-foot
White started for only one season but showed she can shoot from distance and give the Tempo another forward to build their bench depth.
USC guard Kara Dunn dribbles up the court during a game against Saint Mary’s at the Galen Center on Dec. 2.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
37. Portland: Raegan Beers | C | Oklahoma | 6-foot-4
For a while, Beers was one of the most interesting prospects in the college game. She proved she can be an efficient scorer when she went from Oregon State to Oklahoma. Her offense is far ahead of her defense, though.
38. Golden State: Elle Ladine | G | Washington | 5-foot-11
A San Francisco native, Ladine, when she is on, can be a dynamic three-way scorer.
39. Seattle: Saffron Shiels | G | Australia | 6-foot-2
A big guard who could be a late-round steal because of an ankle injury last season.
40. Indiana: Jordan Harrison | G | West Virginia | 5-foot-6
Harrison is undersized but was a good defender in the Big 12. She can facilitate and cause havoc on the court too.
41. New York Liberty: Hannah Stuelke | F | Iowa | 6-foot-2
This is the Liberty’s only pick, and Stuelke is a tough rebounder who has a high upside.
Notre Dame guard Cassandre Prosper drives to the basket under pressure from UConn guard Azzi Fudd during an Elite Eight game on March 29.
The Atlantic Coast Conference’s most improved player, Prosper can score and rebound while also being surprisingly quick for her size in the frontcourt.
43. Atlanta: Laura Ziegler | F | Louisville | 6-foot-2
An All-ACC first-team player for an underrated Louisville team, Ziegler can pass and make threes.
44. Las Vegas: Mya Perry | G | Cincinnati | 5-foot-11
A 17.8-point scorer, Perry is a three-point shooter who could earn a developmental slot.
45. Minnesota: Madison St. Rose | G | Princeton | 5-foot-10
St. Rose led Princeton in scoring and could be worth a shot as a developmental player.
No. 1-ranked UCLA, known for its powerful batting order from one to nine, turned to its pitching staff on Friday in New Jersey to pull out a 4-1 victory over Rutgers in 14 innings. It was UCLA’s 25th consecutive win. The Bruins are 31-2 and 16-0 in the Big Ten.
Starting pitcher Logan Reddemann tied a UCLA record with 18 strikeouts in eight innings. Four UCLA pitchers combined to strike out 30 batters, one shy of an NCAA record. Zach Strickland came through with three innings of scoreless relief, striking out seven. Easton Hawk got the save by striking out the side in the bottom of the 14th.
UCLA had left 16 runners on base until finally breaking through in the top of the 14th. The Bruins loaded the bases with one out, then broke the 1-1 tie on a fielder’s choice. Aidan Espinoza followed with a two-run pinch-hit single.
Meet Mick Cronin’s nightmare, a 7-foot-3 indictment of his embattled program, a monumental mistake that has spent three weeks eating at the heart of even the most dedicated Bruin loyalists.
In Michigan’s overpowering run in this tournament, Mara was everywhere.
Playing the previous two seasons at UCLA, Mara was nowhere.
In six tournament games, Mara had at least two blocks in five, scored in double figures in four and racked up 26 points with nine rebounds in the semifinal win against Arizona.
In his last 11 appearances as a Bruin last season, Mara never played more than half the game.
“One Shining Moment” is another man’s darkness, and so it was that after Michigan’s 69-63 title victory over UConn Monday night, Mara unwittingly milked his co-starring role in the tournament’s annual music video compilation.
In a brief closeup from an earlier tournament game, Mara was shown wagging his tongue in celebration … or was that in revenge?
It sure felt like the latter, as Mara’s nationally televised presence this spring repeatedly summoned one question about the current UCLA basketball culture.
How could the Bruins allow the cornerstone of the program’s future to just walk out the door?
Yes, Cronin isn’t the first coach to lose a star to the transfer portal, as Michigan became the first champion for which all five starters were transfers.
But Mara was more than a transfer, he was transformative, and everyone who had watched him roaming the Pauley floor during his sporadic appearances knew it. If Mara had stayed with the Bruins this season, they could have been at least a Sweet 16 team, maybe advancing to the Elite Eight, and who knows how much further, his presence alone changing so many things about the team in so many different ways.
Michigan’s Aday Mara dunks while Arizona players watch during the Wolverines Final Four semifinal win Saturday in Indianapolis.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
His rim protection is powerful. His shot-blocking is masterful. His footwork is precise, his shooting touch soft and his overall game has been improving with his maturity.
Bruin fans loved him. Pauley rocked with him. Scouts fawned over him.
But Cronin never seemed sold on him, starting him once in two years, playing him about 13 minutes a game last season.
After which, Mara begrudgingly bolted.
“It was a hard decision to leave UCLA,” Mara told former Times staff writer Ben Bolch last spring, “because you saw every game — I was enjoying it, I was super happy because I saw all the crowd cheering for me, helping me a lot. Los Angeles is like a really, really good place, Westwood, so I’m going to miss that and I wanted to say that because it was a hard decision because it’s just after two years it feels like I spent a lot more time than two years, you know?”
When explaining the benchings, Cronin frequently talked about Mara’s matchup problems, conditioning problems, and illness problems. And to be fair, Cronin has often used his tough love with great success, turning marginal players into good ones.
But Mara was a potential superstar, and he wasn’t buying any of it.
“I had expectations when I came here that I didn’t achieve,” said Mara to Bolch. “Also, I think I felt like I was playing good, practicing good, practicing hard, you know, putting in extra work and until Wisconsin I never had the opportunity to show that I was able to play, you know? And once [Cronin] gave me the opportunity, I saw — not a lot, but I saw what I could do, so those are the two reasons.”
Ah, yes, Wisconsin. That game, in January of 2025, could have solidified the Cronin era. Instead, it eventually only served as another eventual milestone of regret.
In the Bruins upset of the Badgers, Mara had 22 points, five rebounds and two blocks in 21 minutes in the best game of his UCLA career.
That finally earned him a place in the rotation after weeks of being lost on the bench, and he played more than 24 minutes in three of the next four games including finding himself in the starting lineup for the first time.
But it was also the last time. Beginning in early February, he didn’t play more than 20 minutes a game the rest of the season, which, after he experienced such success in the Badger beatdown, he found increasingly frustrating.
After the season, there were reports that Mara asked for an inordinate salary increase while demanding that he set his own practice schedule. He denied all those charges to Bolch, saying, “I feel like that’s crazy.”
You want to know what’s really crazy? That UCLA would not work with him no matter what the demands.
One can only guess about the millions of dollars paid to top UCLA athletes, but the Bruin power brokers should have busted the NIL bank for this kid. Certainly, one can also speculate that the Spaniard was considered soft and wasn’t always in great shape, but he was still a teenager and in need of the sort of persistent patience not often shown in Cronin’s world.
Whatever, there was surely a way to put Mara on a path to his seemingly destined greatness. But the hard-nosed Cronin apparently couldn’t reach him while Michigan’s gentler Dusty May could and … hmmmm.
On Monday night, one of those coaches was celebrating while the other one was watching.
Who knows, maybe Cronin and his demanding, sometimes demeaning program will pick up another shiny seven-foot star from this spring’s newly opened portal.
It was dominating. It was overwhelming. It was powder-blue pummeling, eight-clap crushing, Westwood wonderful.
It was the UCLA women’s basketball team needing barely two hours to complete the struggles of 45 years, a stunningly swarming triumph unmatched in even the finest of Bruin athletic traditions.
Break out a new banner. Make room in the Pauley rafters. A new collection of heroes is coming home, and they started the party early.
For the first time since 1978, and the first time in the NCAA era, the UCLA women are national basketball champions after a 79-51 finals blowout victory Sunday over favored powerhouse South Carolina.
“Oh my gosh,” said weeping star Lauren Betts after the final buzzer.
Oh my, Lauren. This was a heartfelt triumph for the towering tournament Most Outstanding Player who overcame mental health issues to become the toughest figure on the floor.
“I do it for my teammates,” she said during the celebration. “I don’t do it for me.”
Oh my, Gabby. This was a legendary triumph for Gabriela Jaquez, who scored 21 points with 10 rebounds in the finals while her brother, former Bruin star Jaime Jaquez Jr., watched from the stands one day after he scored 32 points for the Miami Heat.
UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez hugs coach Cori Close during the second half of the Bruins’ win over South Carolina in the NCAA women’s national championship Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
“I imagined this moment, I imagined it so many times,” she said. “Oh my gosh, I’m so happy.”
Oh my, Cori, this being a legacy triumph for Coach Cori Close, a John Wooden disciple who led through thoughtful motivation instead of mindless screaming. This was her 15th season as the Bruins’ boss, which previously made her the longest tenured coach without a national title.
“It’s truly indescribable,” she said from the celebration stage afterward. “The loyalty, the steadfast spirit, the character that they’ve chosen day in and day out. … I am just so humbled that they’ve chosen to commit to our mission.”
One of Close’ mantras is, “Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us.”
This was UCLA’s first finals appearance in the NCAA era, and they were trying to win their first title since Anne Meyers-Drysdale led the Bruins to an AIAW championship in 1978.
Yet they never blinked.
“This was a business trip for us,” said Dugalic. “We had the mentality that the job’s not finished. Now the job is finished.”
Jaquez set the tone in the first quarter by following a Dugalic miss with a flying layup as she was sent sprawling to the floor. She was fouled, converted a three-point play, and the Bruins were quickly sending a message.
They would not be intimidated. They would not be pushed around. And they would play every second, as evidenced by the first-quarter, buzzer-beating trey by Rice as she tumbled backward to give them a 21-10 lead.
The Bruins didn’t even panic when their leader seemed to panic, as Betts spent nearly half of the first quarter on the bench complaining that, “I’ve got something stuck in my throat.”
UCLA coach Cori Close, center, celebrates with her players after guiding the Bruins to the NCAA women’s basketball national championship on Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
Trainers checked her throat, gave her an inhaler and eventually nursed her back on to the court, where she told an ESPN interviewer that her throat was just dry from the desert air.
The Bruins kept the heat on during a second quarter in which they made mistakes, seemed to lose momentum, then collected themselves to maintain their huge edge. At one point UCLA committed four consecutive turnovers and the Gamecocks closed the gap to 11, but then UCLA’s defense got tough again and layups by Rice and Kneepkens helped them regain their advantage.
At halftime UCLA led 36-23 and the game was essentially over.
Jaquez put the bow on it when she hit a late three-pointer that made it 79-45, her shot followed by a smile and a scream to the heavens.
Highlights from UCLA’s win over South Carolina in the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game.
“Gabs is incredible,” said Leger-Walker. “She is that person that you never doubt is going to give her all. She impacts the game in so many ways.”
Leger-Walker ended the afternoon dancing with her teammates just as they have danced all season.
“I’m still processing the fact that we are national champions,” she said.
Believe it. These Bruins will be dancing forever.
UCLA players celebrate after defeating South Carolina for the NCAA women’s basketball championship.
With a 30-point lead by the end of the third quarter, much of the end of Sunday’s NCAA championship victory was a celebration of what UCLA had built en route to its 79-51 victory over South Carolina.
By the final buzzer, it was a full-blown party.
It was one of the largest margins of victory in Final Four history.
UCLA won an AIAW title in 1978 against Maryland before women’s basketball was an NCAA sport.
UCLA’s Kiki Rice, right, drives around South Carolina’s Raven Johnson during the first half of the NCAA national title game on Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
Last season, UCLA’s 34-point loss to Connecticut in the semifinal became the worst loss in tournament history.
This season, there was no doubt UCLA was ready for the moment and it ensured it could reverse the history books.
It was perhaps the most UCLA performance the Bruins could have had. In their final collegiate games, Lauren Betts (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Gabriela Jaquez (21 points, 10 rebounds) earned double-doubles and all five starters scored in double digits. They dominated the boards (49-36), played stellar defense and most important, didn’t turn the ball over often.
After the Bruins held Texas to a season-low 44 points in Friday’s semifinal, they held the Gamecocks to 51, also their lowest total all season.
UCLA’s Lauren Betts shoots over South Carolina’s Maryam Dauda in the first half of the NCAA national championship game Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
The Bruins jumped out early while South Carolina struggled with the Bruins’ size and went three for 18 from the floor. Kiki Rice (10 points, six rebounds, five assists) hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the opening quarter with the Bruins holding on to a 21-10 lead.
Near the end of the first, Betts came back to the bench coughing and sputtering, seemingly unable to clear her throat. At the start of the second quarter, she was at the end of the UCLA bench and used an inhaler before returning to the game.
UCLA’s suffocating defense held the Gamecocks to 25.7% shooting in the first half. Unlike Friday’s win over Texas, the Bruins’ offense recovered from a one-for-10 stretch far earlier.
South Carolina made a mid-second quarter adjustment into a zone defense and a half-court press that forced one 10-second violation and another turnover that led to a fast-break layup and and free throw from Ta’Niya Latson.
UCLA’s Gabriela Jaquez celebrates after scoring while being fouled during the first quarter Sunday against South Carolina.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
UCLA led 36-23 at the half.
One of the Gamecocks’ only interior presences, center Madina Okot, had three fouls early in the third quarter. With her off the floor, UCLA extended its lead to 18 off a three-pointer from Charlisse Leger-Walker.
Midway through the quarter, a sequence of a Betts layup over the South Carolina defense, a Betts block of a Latson shot and a Jaquez fast-break layup gave the Bruins a resounding 22-point lead.
The Bruins outscored the Gamecocks 25-9 during the third quarter to earn a 61-32 lead off a 13-0 run. It was the largest lead ever for a team going into the fourth quarter of an NCAA championship game.
South Carolina shot a season-worst 18 for 62 from the floor and two for 15 from three-point range.
UCLA players, including Kiki Rice, left, and Gabriela Jaquez celebrate after winning the NCAA women’s basketball national championship on Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
The Bruins held Latson to four points and Raven Johnson to three on one-for-seven shooting.
South Carolina had taken down then-undefeated UConn in the semifinal on Friday.
UCLA will need to rebuild with few returners, but now that her players have won a national title, coach Cori Close should have her pick of the transfer portal.
Now, Close and the Bruins have championship pedigree.
Highlights from UCLA’s win over South Carolina in the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game.
In front of a stunned crowd at Phoenix’ Mortgage Matchup Center Friday night, the UCLA women’s basketball team defied stereotypes and defined toughness and did what few believed this dancing, dazzling group could do.
They stared down presumably rougher Texas in the national semifinals and painted the floor in streaks of Longhorn and won the second-most important game of their lives.
UCLA center Lauren Betts shoots over Texas forward Breya Cunningham during their Final Four matchup Friday in Phoenix.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
Put up your dukes.
If you thought UCLA needed to take off the gloves against Texas, wait until they go bare knuckles with the deep and experienced Gamecocks.
Based on legacy alone, the national title bout is a mismatch.
South Carolina, under legendary coach Dawn Staley, is playing in the national championship game for the third straight year and fourth time in five years. Meanwhile, this is UCLA’s first title game appearance in the NCAA era.
South Carolina has won three championships in the last eight non-COVID-19 seasons. Meanwhile, UCLA is searching for its first NCAA championship and first title of any sort since Ann Meyers Drysdale led the Bruins to the 1978 AIAW crown.title.
Count the Bruins out if you must. But against Texas, a team that had dominated them during the regular season, the Bruins did all the counting as the Longhorns lay flat on their backs during an eventual knockout.
And it turns out, 30 straight wins means something. These Bruins don’t flinch. These Bruins don’t retreat. These Bruins don’t have any doubt that they can survive whatever South Carolina throws at them, even if that’s enough fists and fury to make semifinal-losing UConn coach Geno Auriemma lose his mind during a profane in-game interview Friday on ESPN.
“The job’s not finished,” said Gabriela Jaquez, who once again seemingly showed up around every loose ball. “Still have one more game to win.”
UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez drives toward the basket under pressure from Texas forward Breya Cunningham during their Final Four semifinal on Friday in Arizona.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
This game began, appropriately enough, with Angela Dugalic blocking Aston Judd’s shot and then glaring at her as the Longhorn lay in a heap.
“It’s such an amazing thing that we have another opportunity to play together,” said Dugalic. “One more day.”
This game ended with Lauren Betts blocking Madison Booker’s layup attempt with 18 seconds remaining and Texas trailing by just three.
“Oh my God,” said Charlisse Leger-Walker. “Another Lauren Betts specialty.”
After the block, Betts screamed loud enough to be heard from the desert to Westwood. Soon thereafter, her teammates were screaming with her.
“We knew it was going to be a tough, physical game and we knew we had to match that intensity,” said Kiki Rice.
Did they ever.
Defensively, they held Texas star Madison Booker to three baskets off 23 attempts, including an unbelievable 17 straight misses at one point. Their Bruins’ pressure was so intense, Texas took 21 more shots and still lost by seven.
Offensively, four different players scored in double figures while they had 13 assists on 18 baskets. Yeah, they committed 23 turnovers, the most in a Final Four game in 18 years. But who’s counting?
“I want to apologize to all the fans for the rugby match,” said Bruins coach Cori Close.
No apology necessary.
UCLA forward Angela Dugalic blocks a layup attempt by Texas guard Ashton Judd during thier Final Four game Friday in Phoenix.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
The Bruins dominated from the outset, holding Texas to a season-low six points in the first quarter as the Longhorns made just three shots. Hampered by their own mistakes, UCLA let Texas stay in the game until scores by Betts, Rice and Jaquez widened the gap to 10 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Texas battled back to within one possession late, but Betts’ block sealed it for a team that has come too far and endured too much to be bothered by even the most furious of comeback attempts. For the record, the mighty Texas team led for all of 54 seconds.
“This is amazing,” said Betts.
There are players on this team that have made four straight trips to the Sweet 16 and consecutive trips to the Final Four. South Carolina knocked the Bruins out during one of those tournaments. They’re well aware it could easily happen again.
But pressure moments Sunday afternoon with the basketball world watching? Bring it on.
“I think in those moments, we’re just so connected that regardless of what the score is, we could have been down 10, we still would have been as connected as if we were up 10,” said Betts, who missed only three of 10 shots and had 11 rebounds. “I’m just really proud of this group. I think it shows the maturity. I know I can count on anybody on this team, regardless of what the score is. We’re going to continue to show up and compete.”
For one more game. For one last time. For forever.
PHOENIX — You’d be forgiven if you thought this year’s Final Four was just a case of déjà vu.
On paper, that seems true — four No. 1 seeds who have dominated every round of the NCAA tournament arrived in Phoenix this week and they are the same four teams who reached the Final Four last year in Tampa, Fla.
Sustaining that level of success during the modern college basketball era, the four teams insist, isn’t as easy.
Connecticut doesn’t have Paige Bueckers; South Carolina doesn’t have Kamilla Cardoso; and UCLA coach Cori Close and the Bruins have a much different lineup.
“Getting here,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said, “is the hard part.”
UCLA coach Close noted during the Sweet 16 that the work to stay competitive in this era is exhausting for coaches, and it’s only getting harder. She will have another rebuild ahead of her immediately after getting to the pinnacle of the sport during back-to-back campaigns.
The Bruins will graduate the majority of its rotation after this season, with all five starters and top bench player Angela Dugalic projected to be WNBA draft picks in April.
Does that make this a make-it-or-break-it year for UCLA?
“I think in the back of our heads, we all know that this is our last go at this,” Bruins senior center Lauren Betts said. “It’s all or nothing for all of us.
”… I think when we do play, especially around this time, you can see throughout March Madness, we come out with a certain level of urgency because it is our last year. I think [Friday], we’re going to come out with that same level of urgency from the very beginning.”
UCLA’s Lauren Betts, left, and Angela Dugalic celebrate during the second half of the Bruins’ Elite Eight win over Duke on Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
UCLA senior forward Gabriela Jaquez added, “We’re just fighting for more days with each other at the end of the day.”
While the Bruins will bring back some young talent in Lena Bilic and Sienna Betts and add injured senior Timea Gardiner, they will essentially have to start from scratch. That’s not so unusual in the transfer portal era, where TCU went to the Elite Eight with five starters who transferred into the program.
“It is just brutal,” Close said on Thursday. “It’s a grind and that’s why all four of us should feel really proud that we’re here. That doesn’t make us any less competitive or wanting to win a national championship. But I think it is worth pausing and going, ‘Man, it’s amazing to be in this position, especially two years in a row.’”
To build this team, Close had to get Gianna Kneepkens in the portal, get Charlisse Leger-Walker healthy after transferring last season, coax career-best years out of Kiki Rice and Jaquez, help Lauren Betts come into her own as a defender along with a dominant offensive force and support a player like Dugalic willing to come off the bench.
The other three teams have starters they can build around for years to come. The Gamecocks, arguably the most successful program of the last half-decade-plus, landed Florida State scorer Ta’Niya Latson and Mississippi State center Madina Okot in the portal during the offseason to go along with returners Raven Johnson and Joyce Edwards.
“It’s not going to magically happen,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said, emphasizing strong habits are key.
The Huskies, the defending national champions with a strong recruiting pipeline and unmatched success during Auriemma’s tenure, are somewhat of an abnormality to the changing of the guard in the NCAA. South Carolina has been here for six straight years — with vastly different casts — while Texas hasn’t won a title since 1986 and UCLA never has.
“To do it at the level that the four teams that are here have done at this year, and really consistently, I think all four teams that are here, the only thing harder than building it is sustaining it,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. “When you sustain it at the level that the teams that are here have done it over the period and the course of years, it’s really incredible.
“What it takes to live there year in and year out, it’s hard. I think that’s what Coach [Close] was talking about a couple weeks ago. Man, she wasn’t looking for any sympathy or anything. It’s just a statement, man. It’s hard. Winning at this level is hard. It is.”
It might have seemed like a given that this tournament was going to go chalk, but that doesn’t make anything automatic and it doesn’t mean UCLA will stay at the top of the podium for years to come. UConn went three years between titles, after all.
UCLA coach Cori Close instructs her players during a win over Minnesota in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament on March 27.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
None of the four No. 1 seeds have struggled much in their respective games this tournament. The closest was UCLA’s 70-58 win over Duke, when the Bruins trailed at halftime and came back to win for the first time all season.
But UConn went eight scoreless minutes against Notre Dame in the 70-52 win in the Elite Eight. Texas and South Carolina rolled, and Texas is 16-3 against top 25 teams and has arguably the best momentum of any team left standing.
UCLA might have a path back to this spot after teams have shown how quickly they can rebuild. After all, TCU was in the Elite Eight in consecutive years after having to forfeit games due to lack of players.
But UConn will return Sarah Strong and Blanca Quiñonez, South Carolina has Edwards back and Texas has another year of Madison Booker, and other up-and-coming squads like Michigan and USC will be dangerous.
It might not be the Bruins’ last chance to win the big dance, but it might be their best ever. Getting here, after all, is the hardest part.
“I think success leaves clues for who is next,” Dugalic said. “We’re trying to leave that for the next generation of basketball, to sustain that, to show it is hard. This isn’t a nine-to-five, it’s our lives, and that’s what it takes for everyone to be here.”
The UCLA women’s gymnastics team enters the NCAA regionals on Friday in Corvallis, Ore., focused on three principles — calm, confidence and commitment to one another. The Bruins started leaning on the mantra to help them stay dialed in as they took home the Big Ten tournament title, Mika Webster-Longin said.
Now, they will use it as they to push to reach the NCAA championship.
“The Big Ten win really feels good and helps our confidence going [into NCAA regionals],” she said. “It felt great to put everything together because I feel like we really built off of one another and showed what we can do to not only the Big Ten competition, but to everyone.”
“It gives us just the right amount of confidence going into regionals and then seeing where it takes us,” Tiana Sumanasekera said.
UCLA gymnasts Nola Matthews, left, and Tiana Sumanasekera, right, cheer as Jordan Chiles lands a jump during her floor exercise routine at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 17.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
During the NCAA Corvallis Regional, San José State and Washington will face off for spots in the main pool. No. 4 seed UCLA then competes in one of two sessions on Friday at 7 p.m. against No. 13 seed Minnesota, Iowa and the winner of the Spartans versus Huskies early matchup.
If the Bruins place in the top two, they advance to the regional final on Sunday to face the top two teams in the other regional pool that includes No. 5 seed Alabama, No. 12 seed Utah, Denver and host Oregon State.
The top two teams in the regional final along with the top individual all-around performer and top event finishers not on a qualifying team advance to the NCAA championship.
Last year, UCLA finished in first place during its opening regional matchup and second during the finals, advancing to the championship meet.
The Bruins’ biggest takeaway from last season’s competition has been to be intentional, attack their gymnastics and be aggressive with their routines, UCLA coach Janelle McDonald said.
“The best teams that have the most success at these competitions are the ones that really leave no doubt out there,” she said.
At this point in the season, performing a familiar routine isn’t hard for UCLA. The Bruins’ main focus is on nailing details and to be present during every moment of their routines to score every possible point. With a two-day competition waiting for them in Corvallis, the Bruins also need to make sure they commit to recovery treatment so that they’re as sharp as possible for the second day of competition, McDonald said.
“That’s really been our mentality, be really efficient, very confident, very present and intentional about what we’re doing,” she said.
The stakes are higher, but the conference champions say they will treat this as business as usual. The Bruins want to lock in and highlight the areas that have helped them demonstrate competitive greatness throughout the season.
“Each and every weekend we’re building that mentality,” McDonald said. “We have so many experiences under our belt that we’ve learned from.”
Sumanasekera said hard work all season has helped prepare the team for the test it faces this weekend.
“We’re really excited, we have incredible depth on this team, so I think that really helped us in the long run,” she said.
UCLA teammates cheer as gymnast Jordan Chiles completes her floor routine during the Big Four competition at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 27.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
Webster-Longin experienced the postseason last year as a freshman. This year, she had a late start due to an illness that kept her out for three meets.
Since returning on Feb. 27, she has competed in all-around events during the last three meets and has improved her scores each week.
That was the moment Webster-Longin remembered just how competitively great she is, McDonald said.
“I’ve seen the details become more consistent, and I’ve just seen her just be excited to go out and help the team in any way they need,” McDonald said, “And boy, has she done just that.”
Webster-Longin was asked to fill in as an emergency injury replacement during her first meet of the season and has figured out how to be successful whenever she’s placed in the lineup.
“At least for me, trusting the work I put in this year and even the experience I’ve had last year helped me be able to step up for those pressure situations and important moments,” she said.
Alipio has turned the page
UCLA gymnast Ciena Alipio celebrates after competing on the uneven bars during the Big Four meet at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 27.
(Katharine Lotze / Getty Images)
During the Big Ten championship, Ciena Alipio fell during her balance beam routine. It was a moment when she was looking forward to doing her best, McDonald said, but Alipio didn’t have the result she wanted. Instead, it was a great lesson for her to learn — mistakes happen.
“She’s just really been able to turn the page and get back into training,” she added. “She’s had a great week of training. She looked phenomenal and just really dialed in and it kind of put those kinds of mistakes behind you.”
UCLA football coach Bob Chesney wasn’t looking for star performances during the Bruins’ first spring practice on Thursday — instead, he wanted his players to focus on holding themselves accountable for putting in their best effort.
“We talk about the mirror test. Don’t worry about what your coach says, don’t worry about what your other teammates say,” Chesney said. “Go look at yourself in the mirror. That’s really the only guy that’s gonna know, right?”
There was excitement and intensity but perfection wasn’t expected. For the new head coach, it was about whether the fundamentals UCLA worked on throughout the winter carried over, he said.
“While I watch it out here, the things that don’t take skill, the things that don’t take great genetics, were the things I wanted to focus on today more than anything — the effort,” Chesney said.
UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava stretches with teammates at Spaulding Field on Thursday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
“We’ll go and watch the film and figure the rest of it out, but I didn’t think it was a bad day.”
Chesney said he plans to build on each practice, and his coaching staff will set a standard that trickles down to the players. He said there will always be something to improve and something to build toward.
Ta’Shawn James, a defensive back who transferred from Iowa to UCLA, showed strength during drills — an encouraging sign early in his progression.
“It’s Day 1, it’s the first time we’re running at full speed, it’s the first time we’re out here seeing people redirecting, what his makeup speed looks like,” Chesney said. “When he makes a mistake, how quickly can he recover? What’s his range in the open field? What’s the speed differential? All those things are things we’re looking through on just about everybody out there.”
“Not to name names, but they are all physical, they’re all downhill players. They protect the football well. What their bodies look like is phenomenal,” Chesney said. “ … There’s some stuff in that room that’s just a little bit different right now, so we got to keep them healthy, keep them playing downhill and doing what they do.”
At right tackle, the competition is wide open.
“A lot of guys, we’re not really at a spot to just nail that down just yet. Give me a couple more days on it. But, right now, there’s a lot of guys rotating through a lot of different places,” Chesney said.
As spring practice gets started, it is not about individuality, Chesney said, but about identifying and correcting mistakes.
“Dwelling on the past, if it was bad, is not gonna get you anywhere. Getting too high in the successful moments isn’t gonna get you anywhere,” he said.
Chesney wants his squad to play without any limitations or hesitations.
“You set these standards, you live by these standards, you hold them accountable to these standards, not only the coaches and the players, but everybody that’s part of this program.
UCLA coach Bob Chesney leads the Bruins through their first spring football workouts on Thursday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
“That starts to build trust within the team,” he added.
UCLA’s social media accounts highlighted Chesney’s efforts all offseason to preach personal accountability and serving others, doling out a mix of John Wooden and Ted Lasso life lessons.
Chesney reiterated at the start of the next chapter — spring football workouts — that he wants his players to keep pushing to be great people. If they expect to be successful on the field, Chesney argues, they must first be successful off it.
“You can only be one degree of separation from how you’re living your life,” he said. “… We don’t have any bad guys that are bad students, that are bad teammates, we don’t have any of that, we have really good guys so they have a chance to be great at football.”
Alum donates $10 million
UCLA alumnus Angelo Mazzone III committed $10 million to the football program to help maintain the infrastructure needed to compete at the highest levels.
“For him to be as generous as he is and willing to help us with that, I think that’s a big deal,” Chesney said. “It talks about just the investment and the belief people have in this program at this current moment and rightfully so.”
SACRAMENTO — While the UCLA women’s basketball team has a veteran roster that was in this exact position a season ago, the Bruins have an entirely different vibe during their current postseason run.
This year, they expect something different, in large part because of an upgraded starting lineup.
A tangible difference is the addition of Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gianna Kneepkens. Each was the top scorer on their former squads — Washington State and Utah, respectively — and have taken on drastically different roles as arguably the fourth and fifth pieces of this Bruins team.
Charlisse Leger-Walker hits a reverse layup in front of Minnesota’s Grace Grocholski during the tournament on Friday in Sacramento.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
“It’s huge we have them,” said senior Gabriela Jaquez, who has spent her entire NCAA career with the Bruins. “They’re perfect fits here. Charlisse as a point guard has been great, and then just being a guard out there, a ready shooter, doing whatever we need, and obviously them being able to defend is really great for our team.”
With the Cougars, Leger-Walker averaged double-digit scoring and more than 10 shots per game in every season. With the Bruins, her production has dropped to 8.7 points per game on 7.1 shots.
Where she has improved, though, is a career-high 5.7 assists per contest.
“I look at the talent we have, especially on the offensive end, there are a lot of times where I don’t have to shoot and force some of the shots that I would have to back at Washington State,” she said. “I’ve always been able to facilitate and be that connector, but this is the role I am needed in the most here.”
Kneepkens was the Utes’ top shooting option and Pac-12 freshman of the year. There, she was relied on as the team’s top three-point shooter, and after Alissa Pili left, their top scorer overall.
During her graduate season, she has taken a significant reduction in shots per game, going from 12.3 field goals per game to 9.4.
“I think it tells you what their ‘why’ is, what their purpose is, why they came here,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “It wasn’t to get their own stats. It was to be a part of something bigger than themselves.”
On a night where neither of them did much shooting against Minnesota, though, it was their defensive length that made a significant difference against a physical Golden Gophers team. It was the kind of defense they could not have played a year ago with Londynn Jones, who transferred to USC, in the spot Leger-Walker now occupies and Angela Dugalic starting rather than providing invaluable depth coming off the bench.
UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens dribbles under pressure from Oklahoma State forward Achol Akot during an NCAA tournament game at Pauley Pavilion on March 23.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
Offensively, Leger-Walker’s presence has given the Bruins more options to score from throughout the floor. Known as a three-point threat at Washington State, she needs to be guarded on the perimeter but also not be left to connect to other open players.
“But I think Charlisse, specifically, is one of the best processing point guards I’ve ever been around,” Close said. “Her ability to understand how rotations are happening in the second line, what’s the next play and if she makes one mistake, boy, she’s not making it a second time. … Having Charlisse on our team has freed Kiki [Rice] up in some ways and vice versa. So that’s been really fun to see.”
Rice has played more of a shooting guard role this season with Leger-Walker taking over at point guard, which has opened her up to shoot more and drive to the hoop without facilitating as often.
That freedom has given Rice her best offense season yet.
“[Leger-Walker’s] basketball IQ is insane,” Rice said. “She gets buckets, she defends super well, she does it all for us. She’s selfless, and she kind of knows when to take over. I’m grateful we’ve had her this year.”
Close said that Kneepkens played one of her best defensive games in the win over Minnesota, but that her length playing as a wing has opened up the UCLA defense to guard the perimeter all season.
“It’s just learning to play with great players,” Kneepkens said. “If that’s finding them when they’re open, then I’ll do that. Or if I need to take my shot, I’ll do that too.”
UCLA’s biggest wins have featured dominant performances from Lauren Betts and generally, its other bigs — Sienna Betts and Dugalic — playing at their best.
But the true depth of the Bruins has come from having long guards who can defend and change up what they need to do in any given matchup. They might be the difference going into the toughest parts of the tournament.
“Coming to a program also where you are surrounded by elite players, and at the end of the day we want to win and be a part of a program that can do that,” Leger-Walker said. “Whatever that role is that we have to adjust to throughout the season, I think, we really bought into that.”
Yes, the Bruins (35-1), barely challenged all season and always dancing and smiling, could actually deal with adversity after all.
UCLA earned its second straight Final Four berth despite trailing at halftime for the second time all season and coming from behind to win while down in the second half for the first time.
They will face the winner of Monday’s game between No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Michigan.
“That was definitely adversity,” said Gianna Kneepkens, who scored seven points. “We regrouped, and the way we were talking to each other gives me so much confidence.”
UCLA trailed Duke 39-31 at the half after missing all four three-point attempts and committing 12 turnovers.
UCLA center Lauren Betts drives to the basket over Duke forward Toby Fournier in the first half of the Bruins’ win in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA tournament Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
“We really didn’t execute our game plan very well,” UCLA coach Cori Close said of the first half. “We didn’t control rebounds. We weren’t the aggressors in creating catches. We didn’t go strong to the rim and execute our stuff.”
But they turned on the aggression early in the third quarter, taking deeper shots and forcing three jump-balls and four turnovers as the Bruins rallied from a deficit in the second half for the first time all season. UCLA outscored Duke 20-8 in the third quarter.
“We were really reactive in that first half and let the game come to us,” said Leger-Walker, who finished with five points and six assists. “We let them dictate what was going on out there. It’s not how we’ve played in the season, when we’ve been up and feeling good. So, you know, we could feel that coming into halftime, and we all kind of took a breath, reset, and a lot of that was on the defensive side.”
Betts was also activated late, with 15 of her 23 points and eight of her 10 rebounds coming in the second half while she matched a season high five blocks.
“I was pretty mad,” Betts said of her emotions at halftime. “I just didn’t like how that first half happened. I know that I could have been a lot more aggressive. I think going into a game like this, sometimes you just take yourself out of your head and you realize, oh, this is the Elite Eight and my season is on the line. So I’ve got to wake up a little bit. Going into the locker room, I was just pretty certain that I wanted to win this game.”
Angela Dugalic shot four of eight with four rebounds and two steals in the second half and was the catalyst for many big moments, including a buzzer-beating floater to end the third quarter and a lead-extending layup and free throw off an offensive rebound to create separation in the fourth. She finished with 15 points off the bench.
Dugalic and the other veterans led a halftime conversation before Close came into the locker room.
“When Cori came in, she was super steady, and I think that gave us a sense of calm,” Dugalic said. “We still were pretty neutral. We understood that the first half wasn’t a good representation of how we want to play basketball. But Cori came in and what she said right now is, like, ‘How do we stick back to our values and stay neutral, focus on next-play speed?’”
Duke forward Delaney Thomas, left, tries to draw a foul against UCLA forward Angela Dugalic during the first half Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Duke (27-9) scored 18 points off the Bruins’ 18 turnovers, tied for the most UCLA has committed all season. Twelve of them came in the first half. But UCLA turned it around in the second half with 18 points off 13 Duke turnovers.
The Blue Devils entered the game limiting opponents to 26.8% from three-point range, ranking 15th nationally, and aggressively challenged the Bruins’ offense. UCLA responded by becoming one dimensional, solely trying to get the ball to Betts in the post.
But Gabriela Jaquez, who finished with nine points and five rebounds, hit a three-pointer early in the third quarter to get UCLA back within five, and Duke missed six consecutive shots while the Bruins narrowed the gap. Toby Fournier (10 points) also committed her third foul early in the quarter, forcing the Blue Devils’ center off the floor.
Both offenses stalled for a period in the third quarter, but consecutive Duke turnovers led to a Leger-Walker fast-break layup and a Kneepkens three-pointer for UCLA’s first lead since the opening seconds of the game.
Duke didn’t score for 5:40 during the third quarter until Taina Mair (team-high 21 points) made a free throw with 32 seconds remaining. The eight Blue Devils’ points were tied for the fewest they’ve scored in a quarter this season.
“You can only learn from moments like this, which is a really positive thing,” said Leger-Walker, with one piece of the NCAA tournament net tied to her Final Four hat. “Definitely not something we want to have as a pattern, though.”
The Bruins held the ball with the clock running down, and Leger-Walker dribbled it to around the top of the three-point line and stopped. Her teammates surrounded her and the group huddled around each other as time expired.
“I just said, ‘I love you guys,’” Betts said of the moment. “That was it. I said, ‘I love you guys.’”
They’ll dance on down to Phoenix next, looking not to avenge the Final Four defeat to UConn a year ago, but ready to prove they have grown to be a championship team.
“Now we really know what it takes to build a rally too,” Rice said.
UCLA center Lauren Betts holds up a piece of the net after the Bruins’ win over Duke in the Elite Eight of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament Sunday.
SACRAMENTO — The team that can’t stop dancing won’t stop dancing.
The top-seeded UCLA women’s basketball team beat Duke 70-58 in the Elite Eight. It wasn’t balletic, but beautiful.
Sunday’s game at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento wasn’t a fun, free-flowing joy ride that so many of the Bruins’ wins have been this season.
It was a rattling, teeth-gritting, heart-thumping roller-coaster ride — weeeeee!
The Bruins weren’t having fun, exactly. They were having the time of their lives.
And in the end, they shoved their way to the front of the stage — and back to the Final Four.
Now the TikTok countdown is on before final exams in Phoenix, where redemption and legacy and a rematch await with either winner of the No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 Michigan tussle in the Fort Worth Regional final.
And any questions — ahem, mine — about how the barely-battled-tested boogie-down Bruins respond to a significant stress test were answered.
The Bruins are built for this.
They’re not just talented. And they’re not just talented dancers (and postgame, Lauren Betts, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gabriela Jaquez reprised the routine that went viral when they did it with the UCLA Dance Team during halftime of a men’s game this season).
They’re tough. And they’re locked in.
And unlike last season, when their program’s Final Four debut ended in a 85-51 national semifinal blowout loss to eventual champion Connecticut, they’re ready for what comes next.
They let us know in the second half Sunday.
Duke came floating in, still buzzing from Friday’s buzzer-beater in the Sweet 16. That slow-motion-in-real-time three-pointer by Ashlon Jackson that rolled around and around the rim as though the basketball gods needed just a little more time to determine UCLA’s opponent Sunday.
UCLA’s Lauren Betts, left, Gabriela Jaquez celebrate after the Bruins defeated Duke on Sunday to advance to the Final Four.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
It was to be Duke, who proved a dangerous No. 3 seed. The Bruins weren’t prepared for the Blue Devils to be so prepared for them, trailing at the break for just the second time this season. The first time was in November against Texas, when the Bruins — now a program-record 35-1 — suffered their only loss this season.
Still their only loss.
Even a fool could read the determination on the Bruins’ faces as they roared back from a 39-31 halftime deficit; they’d come so far together, but they so badly wanted to go further.
No one was ready to get off the ride, not least the six seniors who played the entirety of the second half, seizing momentum and the moment and hitting the Blue Devils (27-9) with a white-knuckled flurry of activity.
“Compliment them,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said, “for turning up their defensive intensity.”
There were 50-50 balls in name only, because UCLA seemed to be winning 100% of them.
UCLA players were ripping away passes. They were diving all over the floor and were all over the boards. They ratcheted up the intensity so much it spread into the stands, where the largely pro-Bruins crowd of 9,627 cheered deliriously.
Shots started falling. Turnovers stopped cascading. UCLA found its rhythm.
And UCLA’s 6-foot-7 star center Betts did what she does, with 15 points, eight rebounds and two blocks in the second half, of which she played all 20 minutes.
“I was just pretty mad,” she said. “You know, my senior season is on the line, so I kind of got to wake up a little bit.”
Angela Dugalic continued to be the matchup nightmare she has been all March; the 6-4 sixth woman scored 15 timely points to take some pressure off Betts.
UCLA coach Cori Close watches play during the Bruins’ win over Duke on Sunday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
“I’m just so proud of her,” Betts said. “The confidence and her poise … you could get in your head in moments when we’re down … but she did all the right things and what we needed at the time.”
It was an entertaining Elite Eight clash that was brought to you by two coaches who staged, like up-and-coming chefs, under two of the greatest leaders the sports world has known.
UCLA coach Cori Close and Lawson committed to making sure we won’t lose John Wooden’s and Pat Summitt’s recipes — never mind all the seismic, disorienting shifts happening in college sports.
A former Tennessee star, Lawson brings Summitt’s brand crackling intensity to Duke, a mindset that she’s said calls for supreme confidence, chasing excellence and holding oneself to an all-around standard of success.
UCLA’s bench was uplifted all season by Close’s warm intentionality, learned from years of mentorship from Wooden. The main ingredients, she’ll tell you, requiring a dollop of growth, gratitude, of giving and not taking.
“[Our] team culture is not this nebulous thing or phrases on a wall,” Close said. “It’s a group of people that are willing to be committed to the hard, right behaviors over and over again. I cannot tell you how many times throughout that game we referred to our values, who we are, what our identity was, what we had to get back to.
“… I’m just really humbled and thankful to be a part of a team and staff that cares about things from the inside out. What you saw on the court is a reflection and a byproduct of what’s happened on the inside.”
SACRAMENTO — Cori Close’s candid remarks about the growing challenges of coaching in modern college athletics sparked a reaction nationwide among her peers.
On Thursday, the UCLA women’s basketball coach was asked about the rapid changes shaping college sports ahead of her Bruins’ Sweet 16 matchup against Minnesota on Friday night. The No. 1-seeded Bruins (33-1) entered the Sweet 16 round considered a strong Final Four contender, powered by one of the deepest starting lineups in the nation.
“I’ve never been as tired as I’ve been in the last two years, and it’s made me think how much longer I can do this,” Close said. “And I’m just being transparent with you about that. There are so many things that are harder, and we keep losing incredible people on the men’s and the women’s side.”
UCLA has dominated throughout the season, entering the Sweet 16 on a 27-game winning streak that dates to late November. Three starters — Lauren Betts, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gianna Kneepkens — began their college careers elsewhere before transferring into the program.
“How do we now figure out this transfer portal? Let’s not complain about it,” Close said. “Let’s have solutions about what’s right and what adjustments need to be made. … I’m a huge advocate for NIL. It should have happened 20 years ago. And we need boundaries. We need infrastructure. We need competitive equity. We need transparency.”
In contrast, Louisville coach Jeff Walz offered a more critical perspective when addressing the same topic during a NCAA news conference in Fort Worth, Texas.
UCLA guard Kiki Rice points across the court while talking with Bruins coach Cori Close during an NCAA tournament win over California Baptist at Pauley Pavilion on March 21.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“I’m friends with Cori,” Walz said. “My favorite line, I would tell her, if you don’t like your job, find a new job. I mean, I’m listening this morning at 4:20 as the workers outside my window at the hotel in the street are working. I mean, you choose your profession. If you don’t like it, find a new profession.”
No. 3-seeded Louisville will face No. 2 Michigan on Saturday after falling short against Duke in the ACC championship game.
Close, who has spent 33 years in coaching, including 15 at UCLA, has navigated an evolving landscape shaped by name, image and likeness compensation policies and the transfer portal, just like everyone else. Last season, she earned national coach of the year and led the Bruins to the program’s first Final Four. UCLA has now reached at least the Sweet 16 during four consecutive seasons and eight times during Close’s tenure in Westwood.
This year, the Bruins swept through Big Ten play undefeated and once again secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
“I mean, of course, it’s a lot of work, but we chose to do it and we get compensated for it,” Walz said. “I don’t think anybody is going to feel too sorry for us that you might be tired. I’m tired, too, but who is not?”
Several longtime coaches have stepped away from the game in recent years, amid, though not always directly attributed to, the sport’s ongoing transformation. Hall of Fame Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer retired in 2025, while Georgia Tech’s Nell Fortner, Iowa’s Lisa Bluder and Harvard’s Kathy Delaney-Smith stepped down during the past three seasons.
“It’s ever-changing, and that’s the frustrating part, because you can never get a grasp on any of it,” Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks said. “You think that you have it. Then all of a sudden, it’s like somebody pulls a rug out and says, ‘No, we’re changing it,’ and now it’s going to be this way now. We want to get out ahead of everything, but we can’t. We always seem like we’re one step behind because there are so many changes.”
Ultimately, Close’s message centered on the need for structural support in a rapidly shifting environment.
“If there’s one thing I would ask of our governing bodies and the NCAA and our administrations is please develop infrastructure and boundaries that create an opportunity to have sustained excellence and sustainable pace,” she said. “Otherwise, we are going to continue to lose some of our best coaches, and I do not think our game can afford to do that.”
Lauren Betts arrived at UCLA unsure she could continue playing college basketball.
After a turbulent freshman season at Stanford almost took her out of the game entirely, she joined rising stars Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice in Westwood.
Betts blossomed in three seasons as a Bruin, but none of her games were as special as the final one she played at Pauley Pavilion. During a second-round NCAA tournament win over Oklahoma State on Monday that at times was closer than many expected, Betts dropped a career-high 35 points and nine rebounds to lead UCLA to the Sweet 16.
“This community, the minute that I transferred over here, has just welcomed me with open arms,” Betts said. “The fans have just been so supportive of me through my entire journey, through my mental challenges, through just basketball, everything. I feel like I’ve grown so much, and they have really taken care of me here.
“It’s not even about basketball to me at this point. Like the people, like Coach Cori [Close] said, that we’ve been able to affect and just the difference that we’ve made, I think has been huge. And so for me, like, just to see all the people waving at us at the end of the game was really special.”
Suicide prevention and crisis counseling resources
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Betts wrote about her journey to joy on March 9 in The Players Tribune, the second time she has spoken or written in detail about her battle with depression and thoughts of taking her own life. She has become well known for not being afraid to be honest about her mental health challenges and being an advocate for those in need of support. It has endeared her to the UCLA community that’s embraced her, along with her teammates.
She wrote that her transparency about suicidal thoughts and an ensuing hospital stay midway through her sophomore season, first with her UCLA teammates, felt like a release from all the anxiety and self doubt that hounded her as she tried to live up to expectations at Stanford and UCLA.
“I want people to know that I’m doing better,” Betts wrote. “But I also want to be very realistic. My mental health isn’t perfect. It’s an ongoing project.”
UCLA center Lauren Betts, left, and teammate Charlisse Leger-Walker laugh together on the bench during Monday’s NCAA tournament game against Oklahoma State.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
Her teammates are in awe of her efforts to be the best person she can on and off the floor.
“She makes everyone better not just because of the basketball player she is, but the leader she is,” said Gianna Kneepkens, a graduate student who transferred from Utah to UCLA. “She challenges us, she pushes us, she just wants what’s best for the team. When people are getting tripled, she’s not worried about, ‘Oh, like, can I get the points?’ She’s seeing who is open so that we can score. So I just have had such a great time playing with Lauren and she’s one of the biggest reasons I came here.”
During the Oklahoma State win, UCLA led from wire to wire. But the Cowgirls outscored the Bruins in the second half and the Bruins’ shooting fizzled out during a tense third quarter. Betts, however, didn’t falter.
Her 35 points came in just 34 minutes. She was 15 of 19 from the field and nearly reached a double-double with nine rebounds.
Betts had long established herself as one of the best players in the country, but she doesn’t lead the nation in scoring, in part, because UCLA is a balanced team with many scoring options. Her performance against Oklahoma State was a reminder that she is still the Bruins’ most formidable player and remains the heart of the program’s push to win a national championship.
“That [scoring is] always in her bag,” Jaquez said. “Maybe some nights she passes more, but that’s just what makes her so special. She’s going to win 99% of her matchups.”
UCLA’s offense runs through its star center even with some of the best shooters in the country. Their starting lineup spaces the floor, with former Washington State leading scorer Charlisse Leger-Walker as a fifth option.
“She puts a lot of pressure on herself a lot of the time and always blames herself when she shouldn’t be and no one else is thinking that way,” Leger-Walker said of Betts. “And I think over this past year, she’s really been working on trying to not do that so she can be the best she can for this team. We obviously need her to be confident, just being able to trust herself, because that is what is going to make our team so much better.”
UCLA center Lauren Betts shoots the ball during the Bruins’ NCAA tournament win over Oklahoma State at Pauley Pavilion on Monday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
There are games that often belong to someone else. Jaquez has turned in big games this season and Rice was the Big Ten tournament most outstanding player. The Bruins have featured six different leading scorers across all games this season.
But it still always comes back to Betts, who has been UCLA’s top scorer a team high 14 times.
“Lauren is one of those players that is always so dominant,” Leger-Walker said after the win over Oklahoma State. “I didn’t even know until she came out that she had 30-something [points.] I was like, ‘Yeah, what the heck?’ That’s just her, you know, she’s a bucket. And she’s gonna always be dominant in that fashion and she is just such an impact player for this team.”
Betts’ 27 minutes, 17.1 points and 8.7 rebounds per game are slightly down from last season. Her 3.2 assists per game are slightly up. Her role, like many other UCLA players, has evolved to fit the star-studded lineup.
In the same way Leger-Walker went from a three-point sniper to a point guard or Rice went from a distributor to a shooter and Jaquez from a hoop driver to a three-level scorer, Betts transformed from a post-up only scorer to the conductor of the Bruins’ office in the middle of the floor.
“She anchors us on both ends, down in the paint, especially defensively,” Rice said. “Her ability to switch out on guards and play on the perimeter and help us out is really, really big. And obviously offensively, she’s such a big offensive player.”
If the Bruins do win a national title, it’ll be on the back of their star. Sure, UCLA is a team full of them, but Betts is still, as Jaquez describes her, “that girl.”
For one last run, Betts can be that for a community and team where she’s found not just acceptance, but true celebration.
“I think she’s found a really deep purpose,” Close said. “And when you can use your pain for great purpose and other centeredness to have an incredible legacy in the lives of others, that’s an incredible gift. But it’s a gift that she’s worked really, really hard for.”
SACRAMENTO — The UCLA women’s basketball team hasn’t lost a game in 120 days. In that time, the Bruins have outscored opponents by a total of 806 points and just one other school — UConn — has gone without a loss during the same stretch.
Yet somehow, the No. 1 seed in the Sacramento 2 region of the NCAA tournament hasn’t captured the same momentum and praise as the other three top seeds who have muscled their way into the Sweet 16.
UCLA (33-1) will play No. 4 Minnesota (24-8) at 4:30 p.m. PDT Friday in Sacramento. The game will air on ESPN. Entering the matchup, is UCLA’s less dominant NCAA tournament run a cause for concern? Or is a win a win when it comes to March?
“Each game is going to present different adversity points,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “And I think that we don’t look at it as getting back to something. We look at it as everything is a learning opportunity. ‘What does that teach us? How does that make us better? What kinds of things do we need to tighten up?’”
UCLA forwards Angela Dugalic and Gabriela Jaquez double team California Baptist guard Filipa Barros during the first round of the NCAA tournament at Pauley Pavilion on March 21.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
As the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament, UCLA is on a projected collision course with the top overall seed, undefeated UConn, on the other side of the bracket.
But the Bruins, who have lost just once this year, also might have to hit another gear to get to to beat formidable teams still in the tournament field.
UCLA punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament with a Big Ten title game win over Iowa by 51 points. Since then, the Bruins haven’t achieved that kind of dominance even against lesser opponents.
Iowa, which flamed out to No. 10 seed Virginia in the second round last week, could have simply been less prepared than other NCAA tournament teams. But the Bruins do acknowledge they also have room to improve.
“I think we’re a really steady team, and obviously we’re gonna do whatever we can to win, and it changes every game, because of different teams,” said graduate forward Angela Dugalic. “But at the same time, I do feel like I have more to give, and that’s not a bad thing.”
UCLA defeated No. 16 seed California Baptist 96-43 before an 87-68 win against No. 8 seed Oklahoma State, leading the Cowgirls wire-to-wire but getitng outscored in the second half. The Bruins led the Lancers by just 10 points at the half of the first-round contest.
A 19-point win is a dominant showing for any team, but with the rest of the No. 1 seeds winning by at least 40 points, has UCLA shown that it is at the same level?
“I don’t really look at it that way from those two games,” Close said. “I just think everything is measuring ourselves against the championship standards that we’ve set, and those are process standards. And so if we fall short in an area, it’s how we get back to what we know how to do and what’s under our control.”
UCLA guard Kiki Rice points across the court while talking with coach Cori Close during an NCAA tournament game against California Baptist on March 21 at Pauley Pavilion.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
UCLA has the second-largest spread among the No. 1 seeds entering the Sweet 16 round, with oddsmakers favoring the Bruins to beat Minnesota by 18.5 points. UConn leads all teams as a 27.5-point favorite to beat No. 4 seed North Carolina. The Bruins haven’t won a game by fewer than 10 points since a 69-66 overtime victory over Ohio State on Feb. 8.
Minnesota has the ninth-best NET of remaining teams, which is better than the other teams matched up against No. 1 seeds (North Carolina is 19th, Oklahoma is 13th and Kentucky is 16th).
During UCLA’s 76-58 win over Minnesota in January, Kiki Rice scored a season-high 25 points. Since then, the Gophers have gone 12-4 while winning games by an average just under nine points while UCLA has gone 17-0 with an average margin of victory of 26.9.
“No team is perfect ever,” UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens said. “So I think [we’re] just making sure that we know what to do, and we know what it takes to be our best. So just making sure we can do that 40 minutes every game is going to be the thing we take away [from the first and second rounds.]”
Since UCLA beat Minnesota, the Gophers took down No. 5 seed Ole Miss, a team that many picked as a tournament sleeper and shot 46.2% from the field during the season.
“They’ve gotten better, but so have we and once the postseason comes, the best teams, the most successful teams, they find ways to just continue to get better,” Rice said. “To stay true to that process, but to take it up to a next level. Because at this time of the year, it’s do or die, and you gotta compete really hard.”
UCLA’s 28.6 average margin of victory is fifth in the country behind the tournament’s other No. 1 seeds and No. 2 seed LSU, a team the Bruins might face Sunday in the Elite Eight.
LSU, the highest-scoring team in the nation, faces No. 3 Duke on Friday night. If UCLA and LSU win, it would set up the third consecutive season they have met in the NCAA tournament. UCLA won the matchup last season 72-65 to get to the Final Four, while the Tigers upset the Bruins in the 2024 Sweet 16 en route to a national title.
But March tests are far more challenging that anything the Bruins have faced to date. The veteran UCLA team is confident it can keep evolving as it chases a national title.
“I think [improving] just requires us to take things to a different place and be more aggressive and dictate in all aspects,” Dugalic said. “That’s the beauty of it, we can get there.”
Absolutely, this is the best team in UCLA women’s basketball history.
Not the best team in the country this year, but truly a testament to teamwork and hard work and talent retention.
Whether UCLA wins it all this season or not, the Bruins are the envy of teams everywhere, including Oklahoma State, whose season they ended with an 87-68 second-round victory Monday. Afterward, UCLA’s six seniors joined their teammates in one last victory lap around the court, waving to fans, soaking in the adoration, on their way to the Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive season.
“Seeing a team who gets to host, a team who has stayed together, for the most part, they get to experience all the things that all of us want, and that is so incredibly rare and hard and special,” Oklahoma State coach Jacie Hoyt said.
But how much further those things will take these Bruins in the NCAA tournament after they fought off Oklahoma State?
Maybe all the way, but maybe not.
The road ahead is treacherous. And the Bruins aren’t barreling toward it with the same momentum as the teams they’re likely to face. This deep UCLA team will need to dig even deeper.
They will have Lauren Betts, though, and no one else will. UCLA’s great 6-foot-7 center and cheat code saved the day Monday, scoring 21 of her career-high 35 points in the second half, when the Bruins got tight and the Cowgirls got closer.
Not close, but closer. Much closer than UCLA’s fellow top seeds’ opponents did.
UConn beat ninth-seeded Syracuse 98-45 in a second-round game that featured a killer 31-0 run by the defending champion Huskies.
South Carolina dismissed ninth-seeded USC, 101-61.
Texas blew out eighth-seeded Oregon like a candle, 100-58, on Sunday.
Even the second-seeded Louisiana State Tigers — likely UCLA’s Elite Eight date if both teams win their way to a third consecutive NCAA tournament meeting — got in on the demolition derby Sunday. They routed seventh-seeded Texas Tech 101-47 while setting an NCAA record by scoring 100 points in their 16th game this season.
But this is not a tournament that takes into account point differential. So no harm and no foul when it comes to the scores of the Bruins’ first two wins — and the first round against California Baptist turned into a rout, 96-43, after the Bruins woke up and outscored their guests 52-9 in the second half.
What might matter is that while UConn and South Carolina, Texas and LSU delivered their best spirit- and soul- and confidence-crushing blowouts, the Lancers and the Cowgirls left Pauley Pavilion feeling good about themselves.
The 16th-seeded Lancers can tout that they trailed a top seed by just 10 at halftime. The eighth-seeded Cowgirls (24-10) can crow about outscoring the Bruins 42-41 in the second half.
“UCLA has lost one game all season, right? The majority of those wins were blowouts, like, real blowouts, and it would have been really easy for us to fold after that first quarter,” said Hoyt, referencing the fact that UCLA beat teams by an average of 28.9 points per game this season, fourth-best in the nation.
“But we never did. They were tough and had a resilience and a grit to them that I was really proud to coach.”
That the Bruins (33-1) couldn’t put more significant distance between themselves and a physical Cowgirls team posed some questions about why adjustments didn’t come quick enough, UCLA coach Cori Close said, taking accountability for her part of that. She also saw her players start to let calls and miscommunications frustrate them: “I didn’t think our next-play speed was as good as it has been, and it affects you,” she said.
UCLA coach Cori Close waves to the crowd after Monday’s win over Oklahoma State in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
That doesn’t inspire additional confidence in the Bruins’ path forward. It’s a thorny gauntlet created by seeding rules that bar conference opponents from playing in the Elite Eight — and that could require UCLA, as the No. 2 overall seed, to beat three of the top-five seeded teams if it’s going to win a national championship for the first time since the Bruins won the AIAW title in 1978.
Close hasn’t quibbled with her team’s seeding despite its impressive 31-1 regular-season record against a loaded schedule. But she said Monday she doesn’t like the route that’s been drawn up for her team.
In Sacramento on Friday, the Bruins will play Minnesota, a familiar foe from the Big Ten — one of a dozen conference teams that earned NCAA tournament bids — whom they defeated 76-58 on Jan. 14.
But after that, to reach the championship game the No. 2 team in the nation could meet LSU (the fifth overall seed in the tournament), followed possibly by Texas (No. 3 overall). And then, of course, they’d likely meet No. 1, undefeated UConn in the final, where the Huskies would be trying to win a second consecutive title.
An unenviable assignment, even for a team that seems to have it all.
“You know what does bother me?” Close said. “That the No. 1 and No. 2 overall seeds are not being rewarded because of a guideline that you can’t play a person in your conference in the regional finals. That is an antiquated, poor rule that advantages the wrong teams and the people who haven’t done the work.”
But on Monday, while saying a victorious goodbye to Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins were still mostly unbothered.
“I told ‘em in the locker room,” Close said, “we can talk about your wins and losses all day, but that will always pale in comparison to the way that you’ve affected this community, the way that you’ve touched people’s hearts, the way that you’ve grown as young women.”
On a day when No. 1 seeds dominated, UCLA wasn’t the exception.
The top-seeded Bruins led wire-to-wire, beating No. 8-seed Oklahoma State 87-68 in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Monday night at Pauley Pavilion to advance to the Sweet 16.
They will face No. 4-seed Minnesota on Friday in Sacramento.
While UCLA started much better than it did in its opening-round game, there were still elements to nitpick. The Bruins were outscored 21-18 in the third quarter, Oklahoma State won the offensive rebounding battle and outside of Lauren Betts — who scored a career-high 35 points while shooting 15 of 19 — the offense fell flat at times in the second half.
But with arguably the best post player in the country, the Bruins overcame all of that.
UCLA (33-1) jumped out to an 11-2 lead while the Cowgirls (24-10) went the final 4:26 without scoring and shot 0 for 8 from the field during that span. The Bruins turned that into a 25-point lead and were up 46-26 at halftime.
Unlike the first-round victory over California Baptist on Saturday, UCLA came out cold to start the third quarter. The Bruins missed six shots in a row while Oklahoma State went on a 9-0 run to narrow the deficit to 13.
UCLA guard Kiki Rice, left, fights for the ball with Oklahoma State forward Achol Akot during the Bruins’ win Monday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
The Cowgirls shot 51.4% from the field in the second half to stay within striking distance while UCLA’s offense went mostly cold. But Oklahoma State’s leading scorer, Achol Akot (23 points), had four fouls by the start of the fourth quarter and had to spend much of the quarter on the bench.
Betts scored 11 consecutive UCLA points in the final four minutes of the third to put the Bruins ahead by 19. In addition, she finished the game with nine rebounds and five assists.
Gianna Kneepkens (15 points) made a couple of key shots in the fourth quarter to help jolt the Bruins’ shooting, but it was still Betts’ dominant showing that kept UCLA well ahead. Of UCLA’s 87 points, 50 came in the paint.
UCLA’s next opponent, the Golden Gophers (24-8), advanced on a buzzer-beater against No. 5-seed Mississippi on Sunday. The Bruins beat Minnesota 76-58 on the road during conference play earlier this season.
With just over five minutes left in UCLA’s first-round win over California Baptist on Saturday, freshman Sienna Betts took a shot. She missed. She grabbed the rebound. She missed again. Then, she put it in the basket.
On the bench, her older sister, Lauren Betts, was laughing. No. 1 seed UCLA was up big late, the Bruins were going to advance and Lauren was getting joy from seeing her sister succeed — and fail.
“I’m like, Sienna, just make the shot, and she’s laughing; she’s not serious,” Lauren said.
The sisters recorded double-doubles during the 96-43 win that secured the Bruins a second-round date with Oklahoma State. Sienna had 10 points and 12 rebounds, six of them offensive, and Lauren had 22 points and 10 rebounds.
UCLA freshman forward Sienna Betts plays tight defense on California Baptist guard Sofia Alonso during the Bruins’ first round NCAA tournament win Sunday at Pauley Pavilion.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“She is so hard on herself and she’s so driven, I think her humor is actually a saving grace for her,” UCLA coach Cori Close said of Sienna. “It’s sort of a light moment. It’s laughter. Because when she’s not smiling and bringing joy, she’s usually beating herself up for a mistake. As she continues to grow in that, I hope it doesn’t have to be her escape, but I just have absolutely enjoyed Sienna so much.”
The sisters have only this season to play together before Lauren, a senior, graduates. They played just one season together in high school in Colorado, and this season might be the last time they are ever on the same team.
“It’s this weird thing, on the one hand, I want them to enjoy this connection they have,” Close said. “I want them to enjoy this year. They will look back on this year and just really treasure it.
“Simultaneously, I want to especially treat Sienna on her own journey, and to not make her feel like she’s in the shadows of anything that Lauren is doing.”
Sisters have posted double-doubles in the NCAA tournament before. At Stanford, Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike did it multiple times in the early 2010s. In the 1980s, USC twins Pamela and Paula McGee averaged double-double their senior years.
But it’s a rarity, and one that could only happen this season for the UCLA sisters.
Sienna, though, didn’t want to make a big deal of it. Sitting to the side in the locker room after the win over California Baptist, she was critical of her own game, just the way Close expected.
“I’m trying to focus more on just that game and just taking what we can learn from our mistakes in the first half, especially, and trying to move on,” Sienna said. “But, I mean, I think in an hour, I’ll take that in and be more excited about that.”
Lauren said she thought Sienna played one of her better games of the season.
“Honestly, besides her scoring, I thought her defense was a lot better today and I know that’s something she wanted to get better at,” Lauren said Saturday. “She was just really proud of her slides. Like she didn’t say anything about her points. She was like, I’m so glad that I can guard them. I worked so hard on that.”
Sienna has had back-to-back strong efforts, with 14 points against Iowa in the Big Ten tournament championship game two weeks ago. She has done so without being hounded by her big sister.
“I think [Lauren] respects my boundary to figure it out on my own,” she said.
Lauren, meanwhile, has averaged 16.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest this season. The projected WNBA lottery pick is considered one of the best centers in the nation.
UCLA center Lauren Betts drives to the basket under pressure from California Baptist forward Grace Schmidt during the NCAA tournament on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“I love the moments you catch when they have a connection and an eye contact or a smile that is different than everybody else because they are sharing it as sisters and I just think how special that is,” Close said. “That’s so wonderful.”
Charlisse Leger-Walker played with her sister, Krystal Leger-Walker, at Washington State for two seasons. There, the duo shared time in the backcourt for an up-and-coming Cougars squad.
“It’s just a different connection,” Charlisse Leger-Walker said. “Out there, you have someone who is your blood and unconditional love and support. And it’s just awesome to be able to see [Lauren and Sienna] in their journey, and have so much success early.”
Sienna will carry the torch for the Bruins beyond this season when the majority of the veteran roster graduates and many go pro.
That’s when she could be the face of the program on her own. But first, she is working to extend an NCAA tournament run alongside her sister.
“I want Sienna to feel like she’s Sienna,” Close said. “She’s not Lauren’s sister. She can enjoy that, but for our team, she’s Sienna Betts.”
PHILADELPHIA — On the night reigning NCAA champion Florida was eliminated by Iowa, UCLA tried to follow the Hawkeyes’ lead against Connecticut, the team that had worn the crown the previous two years.
And for the second straight game they were hoping to win without leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau, whose sprained knee still hadn’t healed enough for coach Mick Cronin to risk putting him on the floor.
Seventh-seeded UCLA battled, managing to take a brief lead in the second half. But in the end, No. 2 Connecticut’s size and power were too much for the Bruins to overcome in a 73-57 loss in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday.
Four players scored in double figures for UCLA. Xavier Booker finished with 13 points, Eric Dailey Jr. had 12 points and Donovan Dent and Skyy Clark each finished with 11. But the Bruins couldn’t contain Connecticut forward Alex Karaban, who erupted for 27 points, as the Huskies advanced to the Sweet 16 to play No. 3 Michigan State in Washington, D.C., on Friday.
The Bruins got off to a good start, building an 18-12 lead before the Huskies caught fire, hitting seven straight shots at one point to seize a 38-33 halftime lead.
Connecticut’s Tarris Reed Jr., center, tries to work past (from left) UCLA’s Trent Perry, Donovan Dent and Eric Dailey Jr. during the first half Sunday.
(Matt Rourke / Associated Press)
UCLA (24-12) started the second half on a 6-0 run, regaining a 39-38 edge on a corner jumper by Clark.
Connecticut (31-5) didn’t wait long to retake control, going on a 14-0 run over the next five minutes, with Karaban scoring 10 points over that span.
UCLA answered with an 8-0 run, with Dailey’s three-point play cutting Connecticut’s lead to 56-52 and reigniting the Bruins’ hope of an upset. Connecticut, however, responded with a decisive 9-0 run, taking a 67-54 lead with 4:24 left.
UCLA struggled with its shooting most of the night, going 19 for 49 (39%) in comparison to Connecticut’s 23 for 49 (47%). Both teams had the same number of free-throw attempts (21), but the Bruins made just 67% of their shots and the Huskies made 90%.
Jordan Chiles captured the Big Ten all-around crown with her seventh perfect score of the season, leading UCLA to its second straight Big Ten championship gymnastics title on Saturday.
“Our team is just going up from here,” Chiles told Big Ten Network after the meet. “We haven’t hit our peak yet.
“Obviously, there are still things that we can work on as individuals, but I think the team environment is definitely there. I couldn’t be more proud of each and every single athlete that went up today and stepped in as well.”
UCLA opened with Chiles scoring a 9.925 on beam. Tiana Sumanasekera scored a 9.925, and Katelyn Rosen, Sydney Barros and Mika Webster-Longin each scored a 9.850. Rosen managed to achieve the feat after missing the last few weeks with a foot injury.
UCLA closed the first rotation in second place, 0.125 behind Michigan.
With Chiles leading the way on floor, Webster-Longin posted a 9.925, tying her career high. Sumanasekera had the same score and Ashlee Sullivan had a 9.950.
Riley Jenkins led UCLA in the vault with a 9.950. Webster-Longin celebrated her 9.875 routine with splits. Sumanasekera had a 9.850 in the event and Sullivan received a 9.850 on her Yurchenko. Chiles closed out the vault with a 9.925, keeping the Bruins in first place ahead of Michigan State by 0.325.
Chiles and Barros each had scores of 9.950 in the uneven bars — the best mark of the season in the discipline for Barros. Webster-Longin performed some celebratory splits again when she tied her season high with a 9.900 on the uneven bars. Sumanasekera and Nola Matthews each had a 9.875 in the event.
“We are coming for y’all,” Chiles said. “This is our year and I’m very proud to say that we are the Bruins.”
