Jaquez

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.”

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.”

In late November, Gabriela Jaquez scored 29 points against Tennessee. It wasn’t her career high; that came when she tallied 30 points two years prior.

But that game, when Tennessee had no answers for a player who was then the UCLA women’s basketball team’s fifth offensive option, felt like Jaquez’s coming-out party after years as a quieter cog in the Bruins’ rotation. It changed the way teams had to defend her. Previously known more for attacking the rim than for shooting from outside, Jaquez showcased a different dimension.

Against the Volunteers, Jaquez made five three-pointers, her most ever.

Suddenly, one of the best teams in the nation had one of the best breakout stars. Entering the NCAA tournament, the 31-1 Big Ten champion Bruins are relying on Jaquez as one of their super seniors to guide them back to the Final Four.

UCLA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker hugs teammate Gabriela Jaquez, who led the Bruins in scoring during a win over Tennessee on Nov. 30 at Pauley Pavilion.

(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)

“I do think she’s always been that player,” said senior guard Kiki Rice, who has played four seasons with Jaquez. “But I do think she’s had a lot more opportunity to demonstrate that, and you saw that in the beginning of the year. She just started off such a hot shooter, and the way that she’s developed every single year, gotten better and just found a way to impact the team.”

Though she hasn’t reached that same scoring peak again, Jaquez has quietly buoyed UCLA’s dominant run this season as the Bruins have emerged as one of the favorites to win a national title. She ranks second on UCLA (among players with at least 30 attempts) in field-goal percentage at 54.3%, second in three-point shooting at 41.1% and third in scoring.

Jaquez has gotten attention for being part of a family legacy at UCLA and spending an offseason with the Bruins’ softball team. But in the background, even when she hasn’t been the leader for the UCLA women’s basketball team, Jaquez has honed herself into one of just 25 Power Four conference players shooting better than 40% from deep this season.

Jaquez, who tallied her 1,000th career point early this season, is having a career-best season with 13.6 points per game, has added double-digits in 25 of her 31 games this season.

“There’s so much depth to her,” said guard Charlisse Leger-Walker, who often dances alongside Jaquez in videos posted on social media and Leger-Walker’s YouTube video series. “Getting to understand her off the court, I think has really helped our connection on the court, and kind of how her personality is so outgoing. She likes to bring people along. You can see that on the court.”

Jaquez came in as a 5-foot-11 freshman who played primarily as an undersized forward and would crash the net and collect rebounds.

The shooting, though, has been the biggest change this season.

“I think of her as someone who, especially early on, like she doesn’t need to have the ball on hand, she doesn’t need to have plays run for her to impact the game,” Rice said. “But then she’s been shooting so well too.”

Early in the season, teams doubled Lauren Betts, who leads the team with 16.4 points per game as a center, which opened Jaquez to shoot from deep, establishing herself as someone who needed to be keyed on.

UCLA’s Gabriela Jaquez shoots the ball under pressure from Oregon’s Katie Fiso on Dec. 7 at Pauley Pavilion.

(Luke Hales / Getty Images)

Her 107 three-point attempts are a career-high this season, with her shot selection jumping to 32.4% coming from behind the arc. That’s come with a career-high 2.2 assists per game and an 85.2 defensive rating, ranked in the top 20% of the nation.

“She can shoot the ball, she can finish, she defends,” shooting guard Gianna Kneepkens said. “I love playing with Gabs. Sometimes I get caught watching her because she’s just so amazing.”

Now, Jaquez projects as a first-round WNBA pick, in large part because of her versatility on offense. She is listed as a guard on the Bruins’ roster, but often starts at forward, where she can stretch the floor. Her 5.4 rebounds per game are third on the team, thanks in large part because of her ability to fill positions one through five.

During UCLA’s Big Ten semifinal win over Ohio State, Jaquez shot four for 12 but Bruins coach Cori Close noted Jaquez’s importance when her shooting isn’t on target.

“What I liked about that the most is that she struggled a little bit in the middle of the second half,” Close said. “It just showed a lot of her mental toughness that, when we needed her the most, she was going to be there for us on the defensive end and on the rebounding end.”

While all five starters have been mentioned as possible WNBA first-rounders, Jaquez has perhaps made the biggest leap, two WNBA scouts not authorized to publicly discuss prospects said.

UCLA senior Gabriela Jaquez celebrates with the Big Ten tournament trophy after the Bruins beat Iowa in the finals on March 8 in Indianapolis.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

When Rice and Leger-Walker are on the bench, Jaquez has taken on point guard duties.

“She does all those little hustle plays,” Leger-Walker said. “She will score if you need her to, she’ll cut, she’ll rebound, like, she’s so versatile. You know what you’re getting from her, and she’s kind of that person who’s the engine of our team.”

Jaquez hasn’t thought much about what happens after this season. This year’s mantra of joy has resonated after last year’s crushing Final Four loss to Connecticut.

“It’s been fuel,” Jaquez said. “That started [last] spring and into the offseason, knowing exactly what to work on, how to prepare…. But I just love the team aspect of basketball, I love this group of girls specifically and I think having so much fun out there has [been the most important thing] and winning has made it even better.”

The night Jaquez hit five three-pointers against Tennessee may have felt like her arrival. But for the teammates who have watched her develop for four years, it looked less like a breakthrough and more like the rest of the country finally catching up.

The rest of the country may have only noticed this season. But inside UCLA’s locker room, Jaquez has been that player all along.

“Gabs is an extremely confident person, so I feel like if you’d asked her this freshman year, she would have believed that she’d become just the incredible player that she is,” Rice said. “Just the opportunity, her experience at this level these past few years has really helped her develop into what she is.”