Tag: Gabriela Jaquez

UCLA women’s basketball players react to historic start to season

UCLA players are relishing the present moment but know they will be judged based on what they do in March.

The story is far from over for the 2024-2025 UCLA women’s basketball team. However, the opening chapters have been historic with the team setting a program record with consecutive wins to start the season. UCLA has spent eight weeks as the No. 1 team in the nation. 

“It’s awesome,” junior guard Kiki Rice said of the storybook start to the season. “The first time that a team has been 17-0 here and I think it’s a testament to the hard work of the players, the coaches of having us prepared and the entire staff.”

Rice is in her third season with UCLA, in her time as a Bruin she’s had a record of 71-10, winning over 87% of the games played.

“We know this is just a step in the right direction,” Rice said. “We didn’t set out to be 17-0 and break that record. Our goal is for the end of season.”

It’s been smooth sailing for the Bruins ever since escaping France with a narrow win over Louisville to begin their season but things will likely get tighter for UCLA as we head farther into conference play and eventually the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.

“We need to do anything we can to be prepared for when it hits March, when everyone’s best is coming out and that’s when the details are going to matter,” Junior guard Gabriela Jaquez said. “Me and Kiki both have fell short at the Sweet 16 and it was really painful. I think Coach Cori and our coaching staff saw how hurt we were obviously and we’re not satisfied.”

Bruins out-rebounded for first time all season in win over Washington

A bittersweet stat.

For the first time all season the UCLA women’s basketball team was out-rebounded on Sunday against Washington in UCLA’s 73-62 win in the Big Ten conference opener.

It’s a surprising outcome that the Bruins were outworked on the boards 32-30 by the Huskies considering UCLA has the third highest rebounding margin this season. The 30 rebounds is a significant drop-off from their season average of 46.3 a game, which is the fifth highest average in the country.

“They were the first team that outrebounded us all year,” Bruins’ coach Cori Close pointed out in the postgame press conference Sunday. “I thought they outhustled us in some ways so I really want to give credit to them and how they played. I thought they played closer to their identity, than we did to ours.”

Junior guard Gabriela Jaquez led UCLA with seven rebounds, while junior center Lauren Betts hauled in just three rebounds while averaging 10.0 per game this season.

“Credit to their 1-4’s that were coming from long distances and really out-hustling us for the ball and out-competing us for rebounds.” Close said of Washington’s rebounding efforts. 

Despite standing just at 5’11”, Washington’s guard Hannah Stines grabbed a game-high eight rebounds against the Bruins.

UCLA will have to wait till Saturday for another chance to put together a better performance rebounding the basketball, when the Bruins will travel to Long Beach State as they look to improve to 10-0.

UCLA women’s team beats Fresno State by 56 points

A massive blowout for UCLA.

The UCLA Bruins pushed their season-opening win streak to seven games after defeating Fresno State 97-41 on Saturday, as the #1 Bruins continue to impress with only one of their wins coming by single digits.

It was business as usual for UCLA in their second game in the 2024 Rainbow Wahine Showdown against the Bulldogs, dropping 97 points for the second straight game, the Bruins’ fourth game this year with at least 90 points. 

UCLA jumped in front 29-17 after the first quarter but in the second quarter, the Bruins turned off Fresno State’s faucet, as the Bulldogs’ offense experienced a dry spell, scoring only six points in the second period. Things didn’t improve too much for Fresno in the second half, scoring just 18 total points after halftime.

Junior center Lauren Betts etched her sixth double-double of the season, with 20 points and 12 rebounds. It wasn’t her most efficient game, with four turnovers and one assist while shooting 9-16 from the field. Junior guard Gabriela Jaquez continued her strong play off of the bench with 15 points on 7-9 shooting, for her third straight game in double-figures.

Junior guard Kiki Rice had her best game of the season, with the Wooden Award Watchlist member posting a season-high 15 points in just her fourth game of the season after coming back from a shoulder injury. Rice played 24 minutes and made six of her nine shots while adding six assists and three steals. 

The Bruins’ offense only problem on Saturday came at the free throw line, going 8-16 from the charity stripe, shooting at a higher percentage from the field (56%) than they did at the line. 

UCLA will end their Rainbow Wahine Showdown action on Sunday against host school Hawaii.

Gabriela Jaquez continues to dominate in Mexico

Way to represent for the Bruins!

The dominating summer for UCLA Bruins women’s basketball star Gabriela Jaquez has continued. After leading her team to wins in the first two games of the 2026 FIBA World Cup prequalifying, she was once again leading scorer on Thursday night.

This time, Team Mexico lost, but will still move out of the Group Phase into tournament action. Jaquez was the top scorer in the game with 26 points, playing more than 37 minutes. The game went to overtime and Montenegro beat Mexico 74-71.

Jaquqez was 10 for 22 from the field and 4 for 6 from free throw line. She finished with 8 rebounds in the game as well.

The bracket is now set. The four teams in Mexico City that will battle it out are Korea and Montenegro, along with Mexico and Czechia. Jaquez and Team Mexico will play the second game on Saturday night.  It is slated for 6 pm local time.

Jaquez leads all scorers in the tournament with 22.3 points per game. Second, is Milica Jovanovic with 19.7 per game.

Gabriela Jaquez joining Team Mexico for 2026 FIBA World Cup

Gabriela Jaquez will be in Mexico in 2026.

Gabriela Jaquez of the UCLA Bruins women’s basketball team got great news, as she was invited, and accepted a spot on the 2026 pre-qualifying Tournament roster for Mexico. This is a tournament to get ready for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.

The sister of Miami Heat star Jaime Jaquez will be playing in Mexico City from August 19th – 25th. The 7-day tournament is held at the Gimnasio Olimpico Juan de la Barrera.

She is coming off a strong sophomore season where she scored 10 points per game, and ripped down 5.6 rebounds per game. She scored 30 points and recorded 12 rebounds in a win over Bellarmine back in January.

She will be a key part of the Bruins rotation, as Coach Cory Close and the Bruins start their first season in the Big Ten.

The Bruins are set to start their season on November 10th at home. They will take on Colgate, Pepperdine, Arkansas and South Carolina all at home in November.

Gabriela Jaquez Jr. with big game in Mexico’s Game 1 win

Gabriela’s team got the win!

Gabriela Jaquez, UCLA forward had a big game for team Mexico earlier this week. She was able to score 19 points and dish out 6 assists in the win over Mozambique.

The games run through August 25th, and this is part of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026. The games will be played in Germany. These games this week are held in Mexico City.

Last season, Jaquez scored 10 points per game. She had 30 points in a blowout win over Bellarmine early in the season. She played in all 37 games for the Bruins as a freshman and got two starts.

Her head coach Lindsey Harding met with the media following the game and gave big credit to Jaquez:

The next game for Mexico is against New Zealand. After that, they will take on Montenegro on Thursday. Jaquez is also known for her time joining the UCLA softball team, as they made a run to the College World Series.

Gabriela Jaquez and Team Mexico to semifinals with win over New Zealand

Gabriela Jaquez continues to be the best player at the FIBA World Cup pre-qualifying tournament for Mexico.

It was a good night for UCLA Bruins basketball star Gabriela Jaquez and team Mexico. They picked up a 71-64 win over New Zealand on Wednesday. The win for them moved them into the semifinals of the Pre-qualifying tournament of the Basketball World Cup 2026.

Jaquez played the most minutes for the team and was the leading scorer. She played 30:22 and scored 22 points. Jaquez was 8 for 15 from the field, and 5 for 8 from free throw. She could add 8 rebounds and an assist in the game, along with 3 steals.

It was not a good first half for Mexico and especially the second quarter. The Mexican team trailed 40-29 at halftime, after losing the second quarter 26-9. They rallied to win the second half 42-24 to win the game. Mexico outscored New Zealand 27-13 in the fourth.

The Bruins star will wrap up the pool play of the event on Thursday night. The FIBA World Cup will be held in Germany in September of 2026.

Jaquez is projected to be one of the leading scorers for Cori Close and the 2024-2025 UCLA Bruins. They went to the Sweet 16 a season ago.

Gabriela Jaquez records first run scored of UCLA Softball career

A run scored for Gabriela.

The story of Gabriela Jaquez really became real on Thursday, as she scored her first run as a member of the UCLA Bruins Softball team. She ran for catcher Sharlize Palacios and did her job.  Jordan Woolery hit a three-run home run to dead center field, and Jaquez crossed home plate.

The Bruins went on to win Game 1 of the Super Regional 8-0 over Georgia.  On Friday, Jaquez did not get into the game, but the Bruins rolled again, 6-1 over the Bulldogs.

Head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez had this to say following the win on Friday:

“It’s been a challenging journey. We have trusted the process. We flipped a corner, and our goal was to be the best at the end, and here we are. I’m just proud of every single Bruin being able to get the win, not only here in Supers, but to do it in two is saying a statement. We’re ready to play and I can’t wait to get back on the stage with this team.”

The Bruins are now heading to the College Softball. The games will get started on Thursday, May 30th from Oklahoma City.

Jaquez was on the basketball team this past season and scored 10 points and recorded 5.6 rebounds per game. She played in 30 minutes, and scored 14 in her final game of the season, a loss in the NCAA Tournament to LSU.

Cori Close’s ‘no-brainer’ decision on Gabriela Jaquez softball move

Cori Close didn’t hesitate at all.

In a bit of an unorthodox move, UCLA women’s basketball player Gabriela Jaquez joined the Bruins softball team for the College World Series run.

She played softball in high school, but joining this late is certainly a surprising turn of events.

Rhiannon Potkey of D1Softball spoke with Cori Close about Gabriela Jaqiez joining the Bruins softball team:

“I said ‘Absolutely! It sounds like a no-brainer.’ It really wasn’t a hard decision. First of all, I really believe in Kelly and how she leads her program. But I also remember what a huge softball fan and player Gabriela was. I remember her senior year in high school she came down to watch UCLA softball in the NCAA Tournament.”[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media]

UCLA is now getting ready for the Super Regionals and it would be quite the sorry if Jaquez ends up making a difference for the team after the women’s basketball team made a Sweet 16 run.

Close added more context to the decision:

“You never want to put your players at risk, but I am a big believer that you want to be wise and make solid decisions but you also don’t want to make decisions out of fear,” Close said. “I want to make decisions out of opportunity, and this is a great opportunity for Gabs and softball that I could not be more thankful to provide.”

Gabriela Jaquez gives first look in UCLA Bruins Softball Attire

This will take some getting used to.

There has been plenty of talk about UCLA Bruins Basketball star Gabriela Jaquez joining the softball team. We discussed this in detail earlier this week, but now the 6’0 forward from Camarillo California has shown off her attire with the Bruins softball squad.

The sister of Miami Heat star Jaime Jaquez looks to be set on wearing uniform number 10 with the Bruins.  She has not played softball since her senior year of high school, but the Bruins are not concerned about her transition to the outside sport. She was teammates with Rylee Pinedo in high school and will be interesting to see if she makes the field during their postseason run. Jaquez showed her softball uniform off in a recent tweet:

UCLA will get their College World Series action started on Friday, as they host Grand Canyon. The Los Angeles regional also features Virginia Tech and San Diego State. The final day of the Los Angeles regional is slated to be Sunday, May 19th.  The winner of the regional would take on the winner of the Georgia Regional. The selection show was held on Sunday, May 12th.