Tag: Lauren Betts

Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles one of five national players of the week

Another honor for her.

Notre Dame guard [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] already was named the ACC Player of the Week for the first week of the season. That only proved to be the beginning though.

Miles has been named one of five national players of the week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Joining her are Oklahoma’s Raegan Beers, Rutgers’ Destiny Adams, UCLA’s Lauren Betts and Norfolk State’s Diamond Johnson.

To say Miles has wasted no time announcing her return after missing all of last season with a knee injury is an understatement. She achieved a triple-double in the season opener against Mercyhurst and scored 17 points against Purdue, three of them coming on a shot from beyond half-court at the third-quarter buzzer.

In this young season, Miles is averaging 18.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists a game. She will have a chance to improve on those numbers in the Irish’s next game Wednesday against James Madison. That will be followed by a contest Sunday against Lafayette.

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Lauren Betts earns big praise from Cori Close after win vs. Colgate

Strong praise from Cori Close.

For the second game in a row to start the season, UCLA women’s basketball played, and won, without two of their three Wooden Award Watchlist members, with Kiki Rice and Charlisse Leger-Walker missing the UCLA Bruins’ 81-63 win over Colgate University.

Leger-Walker remains out after transferring to the Bruins but the absence of her and Rice have yet to affect the UCLA squad, improving to 2-0 with the convincing win Sunday. Once again, junior center Lauren Betts led the way for the Bruins, as Betts poured in 31 points and nine rebounds. 

USA Today’s reporter Meghan Hall reported before UCLA’s season-opener that Rice is “day-to-day” after suffering a shoulder injury in practice, a week later Rice remains out. 

“Lauren is obviously just different this year,” Bruins’ head coach Cori Close said in the postgame press conference. “You saw her switch on defense with all those little players and shooting the three. Obviously we’re running things through her, she’s scoring, she’s expanding her range. I don’t think she wants to be called a center anymore, I think she wants to be a shooting forward the way she’s shooting the 17-footer.”

Betts added three blocks and a steal in the game while shooting an ultra-efficient 15-18 from the field. That efficiency took a step back at the free throw line, where Betts hit just one of her five free throws. 

“More than any of that, is her growth in her leadership,” Close said of Betts. “That has been really tremendous.”

The 6’7” Stanford transfer has been dominant to start the season, averaging 24.5 points per game, 3.5 blocks and 11 rebounds to begin her second season with the Bruins.

Three UCLA Bruins named to Wooden Award Preseason Watchlist

Three UCLA women’s players make the watch list.

Three UCLA Bruins women’s basketball playera have earned early-season recognition, with guards Kiki Rice and Charlisse Leger-Walker and center Lauren Betts all being named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watchlist on Thursday, per the official release from the school. 

“UCLA’s Lauren Betts, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Kiki Rice have been named to the John R. Wooden Award® presented by Principal Announces 2024-25 Women’s Preseason Top 50 Watch List as released by the Los Angeles Athletic Club Thursday.”

UCLA is one of just four schools to have three players be named to the watchlist, joining USC, LSU and Texas. Notre Dame leads the nation with four players named to the list.

Ohio State and Iowa join UCLA and USC as Big Ten schools with multiple entries on the list.

Betts, the junior Stanford transfer, was named to the John R. Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 Watch List last season. In her first season with the Bruins, she averaged 13.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game last year to go along with 2.13 blocks. 

Leger-Walker is new to UCLA this season after four seasons as a Washington State Cougar. She appeared in last year’s Top 50 Watchlist and then averaged 13.2 points (her lowest as a collegiate player) and 6.5 rebounds (her most as a collegiate player) before her season ended early with a knee injury against UCLA in January. The New Zealand-born Leger-Walker has now made the list three times, in 2021-22, 2023-24 and 2024-25. 

Rice was the #2 recruit in the 2022 rankings and now enters her third season with the Bruins. Rice averaged 12.8 points per game as a sophomore last season and added 5.7 rebounds and 1.54 steals. 

Only Betts played a factor in the Bruins’ season-opening win in France on Monday over #17 Louisville, as she scored 18 points on 9-12 shooting with four blocks and 13 rebounds. Rice missed the game with an injury and Leger-Walker missed the game after transferring from Washington State. 

The #5 ranked Bruins will look to move 2-0 on Sunday against Colgate in the home opener at 2:00 p.m.

UCLA Bruins head coach Cori Close excited for Lauren Betts in 2024-2025

Cori Close can’t contain her excitement.

Head women’s basketball coach at UCLA, Cori Close tweeted about one of her players and her ability earlier this week. Close worked with her center in the paint Lauren Betts in one of their off-season workouts this summer.

Betts was one of the best players on the court for much of last season. She started 27 of 29 games and scored nearly 15 points per game. She also averaged just shy of 10 rebounds per game. Betts is among one of the top centers in all of college basketball.

Close is one of the best head coaches in all of college basketball. She has gone 287-140 in her time with the Bruins.  The Bruins have won 54 games over the last two seasons. Here is what the head coach tweeted about her prized center:

The Bruins have yet to announce their non conference slate for the 2024-2025 season. In Big Ten play, the Bruins will get Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State and then rival USC.

Kiki Rice, Lauren Betts, Cori Close take in Angel FC-San Diego Wave game

Rice, Betts, and Close all together.

The UCLA Bruins women’s basketball team is right in the middle of the offseason after losing to LSU in the Sweet 16. Gabriela Jaquez is playing with the softball team in the Super Regionals, but other than that, not much else is happening.

On Thursday night, Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, and Bruins coach Cori Close were spotted taking part in a game between Angel FC and San Diego Wave FC, per a report from Amanda Scurlock.

They were on the field and were being interviewed in the clip shown below. Betts and Rice are both expected to be major contributors for the Bruins in 2024-2025 as they once again enter with top-10 aspirations despite the move to the Big Ten.

The game ended in a stalemate on Thursday, but it is good to see the Bruins stars and head coach hanging out during the offseason and building chemistry together.

Lauren Betts named to Albany 2 All-Regional team in NCAA Tournament alongside Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese

Congrats to Lauren Betts after a massive NCAA Tournament run.

The NCAA women’s tournament continued on Monday in the Elite Eight with Iowa and LSU facing off and UConn and USC facing off.

During the Iowa-LSU game in the Albany 2 regional, it was announced that UCLA Bruins star Lauren Betts was named to the Albany 2 Regional All-Tournament team.

The other four members were all a part of the LSU-Iowa game and they are as follows:

  • Caitlin Clark, Iowa
  • Sydney Affolter, Iowa
  • Angel Reese, LSU
  • Flau’jae Johnson, LSU

Betts had a terrific run in the tournament despite missing the Round of 64 game against 15-seed California Baptist. Betts had 20 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Creighton and then 14 points with 17 rebounds and four blocks in the Sweet 16 loss to LSU.

Betts got emotional after the loss to LSU and for good reason, but if she returns to UCLA next season, she will be a massive player to watch as the Bruins make their way to the Big Ten Conference.

Lauren Betts gets emotional on UCLA seniors after Sweet 16 loss

Lauren betts is going to miss the seniors.

It was an emotional day for the UCLA Bruins women’s basketball team. Their season came to an end with a loss to LSU in the Sweet 16.

After the game, star center Lauren Betts talked about the impact the seniors have had on the team and what it will be like without them going forward:

“The seniors mean a lot to me…I think this year’s been a struggle for me specifically… I can’t thank the seniors enough for what they’ve done for me…I’m so thankful for her…I know they are going to do really big things and I’m so proud of them.”

Betts had another strong game with 14 points and 17 rebounds but it wasn’t enough as LSU came out on top. Assuming Betts will be back, she should be the central point of the UCLA team once again, but losing the seniors is going to have a tough impact and be a difficult obstacle to overcome for this team.

Lauren Betts and Charisma Osborne named to Pac-12 All-Defensive team

Lauren Betta and Charisma Osborne earned Pac-12 All-Defensive team nods.

As the UCLA Bruins women’s basketball team prepared for the NCAA Tournament, a couple of their players earned some big recognition.

Both Lauren Betts and Charisma Osborne were named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive team at the end of the season.

The other members of the Pac-12 All-Defensive team include Cameron Brink from Stanford, Helena Pueyo from Arizona, and Jaylyn Sherrod from Colorado, so it is a talented team all the way around.

Betts has been the most valuable player for UCLA all year long, and when she missed the March Madness opener against California Baptist, there was cause for concern.

In Betts’ absence, Osborne made noise and nearly had a triple-double in the win and certainly showed her worth once again for Cori Close’s team.

This marked the second such award for Osborne and the first for Betts as both players continue to add hardware to their collections.

The Angel Reese-Lauren Betts duel will be worth watching

Get your popcorn ready for Angel Reese vs. Lauren Betts.

UCLA and LSU are set to face off in a Sweet 16 battle in the women’s NCAA Tournament. This game has been discussed a lot, and for good reason.

Angel Reese and Lauren Betts going against each other is aragubaly the best matchup of this game, and Will Rosenblatt of LSU Wire examined the rebounding matchup between these two teams:

UCLA leads the sport in rebounding rate with LSU sitting second.

On the offensive glass, LSU leads the way with UCLA ranking third. Together, the two combine to average 90 rebounds per game.

For UCLA, Lauren Betts leads the way with nine rebounds per game but it’s the rebounding depth that sets them apart. Five qualified Bruins average five or more rebounds per game and have rebounding rates over 10%.

But when it comes to pure ability, LSU has the best rebounder in this game with Angel Reese. Her 13.2 per game ranks second nationally. Throw in Aneesah Morrow’s 10 per game, and you get the best rebounding duo in the country.

Betts missed the first game of the NCAA Tournament against California Baptist but returned with a stellar performance in the win over Creighton. Now, she and Reese will go head-to-head in a must-watch battle of star players.

UCLA star Lauren Betts appears on episode of ‘Days Off’

Catch Lauren Betts on the latest episode of ‘Days Off’.

UCLA Bruins women’s basketball star just posted a double-double in the NCAA Tournament and led her team to a Sweet 16 trip with a win over Creighton. 

UCLA next faces LSU in a thrilling Sweet 16 showdown.

Whistle has a new ‘Days Off’ episode with Lauren Betts, and the Bruins center gave a lot of interesting information in the episode. ‘Days Off’ is an original series profiling athletes and others on their days off, so Betts discussed in detail what an off day looks like for her.
Betts talked about spending time with her teammates and other activities she does during her days off.
Here is the full video to watch.

Betts will be the main focus for UCLA as they try and win over Angel Reese and LSU on Saturday morning. If so, they will face either Colorado or Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Elite Eight.

UCLA and LSU play on Saturday at 10 AM PST in Albany.