Road to the Top: UCLA Women's Basketball
Highlighting the historic Championship season of the UCLA Bruins women's basketball team.
For the first time in program history, UCLA women’s basketball brought home the gold after blowing out opponent South Carolina 79-51 in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. Both number one seeds faced off on Sunday, April 5th, to claim the title. UCLA seniors Lauren Betts and Gabriela Jaquez had great games, both putting up a double-double, leading to the dominant win over South Carolina.
UCLA showed their talent off throughout the entire season, only dropping one game to the Texas Longhorns in late November. The Bruins found themselves facing off against the Longhorns once again in the final four, this time getting the win and helping solidify their season record of 37-1.
But who was behind the powerhouse of a program? UCLA’s head coach, Cori Close, has been leading the Bruins for 15 seasons, putting up an impressive 358-144 career record. After years of successful seasons, Close saw all the hard work pay off on Sunday.
In an interview, Close stated, “There were a lot of times we wondered if it could be true. I said I wanted to find uncommon, courageous women who were willing to make uncommon choices that maybe possibly could yield an uncommon result, and today it did.”
The NCAA is becoming increasingly unstable as the transfer portal expands each year, making it harder than ever for programs to secure long-term commitments from athletes.
That’s what makes two names in UCLA’s starting lineup so remarkable: Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez. Both were central to the team’s success, and unlike many players in the transfer portal era, they spent all four years at UCLA, making this win extra special for them.
Since the game was largely one-sided, it never produced the kind of thrilling buzzer-beaters that fans expect from a championship. Nonetheless, ESPN recorded some of the more memorable moments, saying in a post, “With 3:46 remaining in the contest, Betts and Kiki Rice exited to a standing ovation from UCLA fans and hugged coach Cori Close on the sideline. Shortly after, Jaquez drained a 3-pointer to put the Bruins up by 34. She amped up the crowd on her way off the floor and hugged Close, too. It was special for those three pillars of the program, all seniors heading into the WNBA, to have that moment exiting the floor for the final time.”
As the final buzzer sounded, UCLA’s historic season was complete. From a near-perfect record to a dominant championship performance, the Bruins cemented their place at the top of women’s college basketball.