With two Southern California women’s college basketball teams in the top-five of the AP rankings, with UCLA owning the top spot and USC not too far behind at No. 5, women’s basketball is in a good spot in the Golden State.
During her media availability on Friday, Bruins’ head coach Cori Close voiced the same opinion.
“I see Southern California basketball is wanting to set the curve in the nation for women’s basketball. We all have a contributing role in that,” Close said. “When you want to grow a sport and you want to go to new levels, you have to take off your institutional hat and you’ve got to work together.”
Women’s basketball’s growth in the recent years have been apparent and with two of the country’s best college teams, along with some of the top players, residing in Los Angeles, UCLA and other Californian schools have made an effort to help facilitate that growth.
The Bruins will face several other Californian schools for non-conference games, with Long Beach State on Saturday, Cal Poly on Monday and Pepperdine University last month.
“We’ve got to work together to garner more and more interest surrounding our sport,” Close said. “We have respect for them. We fear no one, we respect everyone and that’s Long Beach State included.”
UCLA will tip-off on the road Saturday afternoon at 2:00p.m. with the Bruins getting a three-week break from Big Ten play after opening conference play on Sunday with a win over Washington.