Tag: UCLA Bruins women’s basketball

UCLA women’s stays in top 5 in latest Associated Press poll

UCLA stays where they are.

The UCLA Bruins women’s basketball team has had no issues yet this year. On Sunday, they blew out Arkansas, and they defeated Louisville in France in the first game of the year.

On Monday, the latest Associated Press top 25 poll was released, and UCLA stayed put at No. 5.

  1. South Carolina
  2. UConn
  3. USC
  4. Texas
  5. UCLA
  6. Notre Dame
  7. LSU
  8. Iowa State
  9. Oklahoma
  10. Kansas State
  11. Maryland
  12. Ohio State
  13. West Virginia
  14. Duke
  15. Kentucky
  16. North Carolina
  17. Ole Miss
  18. Baylor
  19. TCU
  20. North Carolina State
  21. Nebraska
  22. Illinois
  23. Oregon
  24. Alabama
  25. Louisville

Others Receiving Votes: Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Florida State, Miami, South Dakota State, Tennessee, and Richmond.

Up next is a Sunday showdown against top-ranked South Carolina at Pauley Pavilion, and that will be a massive test for Cori Close’s team.

If UCLA beats the Gamecocks, they should be in contention for the No. 1 ranking when the AP poll is released next week.

Lauren Betts sister, Sienna Betts, commits to UCLA

Sienna Betts officially commits.

While junior center Lauren Betts has been leading the way this season for the UCLA Bruins, a second Betts appears headed to Brentwood in 2025 with forward Sienna Betts appearing to commit to the Bruins via her father’s social media account on Thursday. UCLA made it official on their social media accounts on Friday, welcoming Betts to the program.

“It looks like Sienna Betts is officially a Bruin. She is ranked No. 2 in the HoopGurlz 2025 class,” Bruin Report writer Mike Regalado said. “It looks like Sienna Betts is officially a Bruin. She is ranked No. 2 in the HoopGurlz 2025 class.”

Betts is ranked as the #2 2025 recruit according to both HoopGurlz and 247Sports. Her older sister, Lauren, was the #1 recruit back in 2022 according to HoopGurlz and next season they could be sharing the court together. 

Betts will soon begin her senior season with Grandview High School in Aurora, Colorado. Last season she averaged 22.5 points per game, 15.6 rebounds, 3.3 blocks and 2.2 steals helping the Wolves to a 14-11 record. 

Earlier this week, the 6’4” Betts was named to the MaxPreps Preseason All-American team. Betts was also named the Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year for the 2023-2024 season.

“I love that we get another Betts in a Bruin uniform, but Sienna is running in her own lane,” Close said. “She reminds me of A’ja Wilson at that age; the sky is the limit for Sienna!”

Betts joins Croatian guard Lena Bilić as the two recruits for this year’s National Signing Day.

Kiki Rice makes season debut as UCLA defeats Arkansas

Kiki Rice made the debut in UCLA’s big win.

The #5 UCLA Bruins cruised to their fourth straight win to start the season on Sunday with a 101-52 over Arkansas behind some fantastic shooting from junior forward Timea Gardiner.

Gardiner took 12 shots on Sunday, all of them from three point distance and she went 7-12 and knocking down a pair of free throws in her 23 point performance. Gardiner has now gone 15-26 from three this season (57.7%) on 6.5 attempts per game.

“We ran in transition today a lot more because we were getting defensive stops. That allowed us to get a lot of easy baskets and we played inside out so it was, I wouldn’t say easy to score because Arkansas is a great team,” Gardiner said in the press conference Sunday. “But, there was a lot of open people for sure.”

The junior is now averaging 14 points per game on the season, taking on some of the scoring load alongside junior center Lauren Betts, who continued her terrific start to the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds.

“The work done in the dark always get revealed in the light,” Bruins’ head coach Cori Close said of Gardiner, the Oregon State transfer. “This is a huge part of why we were so excited to add her to our team.”

Junior guard Kiki Rice made her season debut on Sunday, playing 11 minutes off the bench. Rice would go 0-4 from the field but Coach Close said that she’s “expecting” Rice to play next Sunday against #1 ranked South Carolina.

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.

Kiki Rice absent from UCLA-Louisville due to injury

No Kiki Rice.

The UCLA Bruins women’s basketball team is kicking off the season with a tough game against Louisville in Paris, France.

Unfortunately, the path to a win got even tougher for UCLA as it was announced that Kiki Rice would not play due to an injury. Charlisse Leger-Walker is also absent from the game for UCLA after transferring to Westwood from Washington State, as Dream Big Ten mentioned.

“A surprise in today’s availability reports: UCLA’s Kiki Rice and Charlisse Leger-Walker are both OUT for today’s game against Louisville.”

Mike Regalado of Bruin Report mentioned Rice is out with an injury.

“For those wondering, #UCLA’s Kiki Rice is not playing today due to an apparent injury.” 

The Bruins’ women’s team entered the 2024-2025 season with lofty expectations and as one of the top in the country, but playing without Rice for the opener is a tough loss.

UCLA lands in top-5 in women’s AP top 25 poll

UCLA lands in the top-five.

The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team earned a spot in the top 25 in the preseason Associated Press poll.

The women’s poll was released on Tuesday, and the Bruins ranked in the top five.

UCLA is the second-highest-ranked Big Ten Conference team with Juju Watkins and USC at No. 3.

The Big Ten has a total of six teams in the top 25 and three others in the others receiving votes category.

Here is the entire preseason poll released by the AP on Tuesday.

1 South Carolina (27) 745
2 UConn (2) 708
3 Southern California (1) 697
4 Texas 641
5 UCLA 628
6 Notre Dame 614
7 LSU 549
8 Iowa State 521
9 NC State 510
10 Oklahoma 441
11 Duke 439
12 Baylor 422
13 Kansas State 390
14 Ohio State 372
15 North Carolina 285
16 West Virginia 277
17 Louisville 250
18 Maryland 227
19 Florida State 191
20 Ole Miss 165
21 Creighton 152
22 Kentucky 108
23 Nebraska 106
24 Alabama 67
25 Indiana 46

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Iowa 37, TCU 30, Utah 24, Illinois 23, Stanford 17, Michigan St. 16, Gonzaga 16, Vanderbilt 12, South Dakota St. 7, Miami 4, Tennessee 3, Fairfield 3, Middle Tennessee 3, Georgia Tech 2, Syracuse 1, Princeton 1

Former UCLA women’s basketball player Charisma Osborne heading to playoffs

Charisma Osborne, former UCLA Bruins star, is now in the WNBA postseason.

Charisma Osborne, who played with the UCLA Bruins from 2019-2024 is heading to the WNBA playoffs with the Phoenix Mercury. After playing 152 games in Westwood, and becoming an all-Pac-12 player four times, she was the 25th overall pick by the Mercury.

The former Windward High School graduate has played just two games with the Mercury this season. She has been in and out of injuries this season.

One of her greatest moments at UCLA was in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. She was able to score a career-high 36 points as the Bruins knocked off Oklahoma to head to the Sweet 16.

Osborne also won a gold medal for Team USA at the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup. During that, she scored nearly 5 points per game. The Mercury are 17-17 on the season. They have six regular season games remaining, and after they finish on September 19th, they will start their postseason run.

Currently, The Mercury are the 7th seed in the WNBA postseason. They are just 1/2 game behind the Indiana Fever.

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 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.