The 2025âÂÂ26 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team represents the University of California, Los Angeles during the 2025âÂÂ26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Bruins are led by head coach Cori Close in her fifteenth year, and play their home games at Pauley Pavilion. In the preseason, the Bruins were voted the favorite to win the Big Ten conference, with senior center Lauren Betts named the 2025-26 Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year. Betts and senior guard Kiki Rice were named to the All-Big Ten preseason conference team. Laren Betts was named to the Associated Press Preseason All-America team.
In November 2025, the first month of the season, the Bruins faced ranked teams in Oklahoma, Texas, North Carolina, and Tennessee, going 3-1, and won their other games, to establish their ranking in the top 5. Past the mid-point of the conference schedule at the end of January 2026, the Bruins had defeated 10 conference teams, including four ranked teams, to solidify a number 2 national ranking. The entire starting lineup was projected to be taken in the first round of the WNBA draft.
The Bruins clinched a share of the Big Ten conference title on February 19, 2026 by defeating Washington. The Bruins won the outright regular season Big Ten conference championship on February 22 against Wisconsin on Senior night. They finished the conference season undefeated on March 1, 2026 with a win at USC. Seeded number 1 in the 2026 Big Ten conference tournament, the Bruins won all three games, concluding with a tournament record-setting win over number 8 ranked Iowa. For the 2026 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, the Bruins were the number 2 seed overall and number one in the Sacramento region.
Previous season
The Bruins finished the 2024âÂÂ25 season with a 34âÂÂ3 record, including 16âÂÂ2 in Big Ten play to finish in second place to USC. UCLA proceeded to beat USC in the 2025 Big Ten conference tournament to win the championship. They were ranked No. 1 in the polls for the first time in program history. They received the number 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament and reached their first NCAA Final Four game, where they were eliminated by the eventual national champion UConn. A documentary named You See LA produced by Fox Sports was broadcast on March 1, 2026 on FS1 immediately following the 2026 UCLA-USC women's basketball game. The episode includes footage from games and post-game locker room team meetings, team gatherings, and interviews.
Offseason
In the offseason, the Bruins did not lose any players to graduation. The team was joined by Lauren Betts' younger sister Sienna, Gianna Kneepkens, who transferred from Utah, and Megan Grant, a member of the UCLA Softball team. New recruit Lena BiliÃÂ earned a medal at FIBA summer international play representing Croatia, while Sienna Betts and Gianna Kneepkens also earned medals for UCLA. The Bruins also signed Christina Karamouzi from Sweden. The entire previous highly ranked freshman recruiting class, along with Janiah Barker and Londynn Jones, entered the transfer portal within days following the end of the season. Freshman Kendall Dudley transferred to Michigan. The Bruin team would play all six of the teams of the transfers during the season and defeat them.
Departures
Additions
Recruiting
Roster
Seven of the team members had been named to the McDonald's All-American Game team before coming to UCLA: Lauren Betts, Sienna Betts, Angela DugaliÃÂ, Timea Gardiner, Gabriela Jaquez, Amanda Muse, and Kiki Rice. Rice, Jaquez, and Sienna Betts were game MVPs. Both Sienna Betts and Timea Gardiner were out with injuries in November. Gardiner elected to redshirt for the 2025-26 season.
Schedule and results
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Game summaries
Sources: 2025-26 UCLA Bruins Women's basketball Schedule UCLA Athletic Communications Office Website at uclabruins.com
This section will be filled in as the season progresses.
Duke (Players Era Festival)
at USC (Rivalry)
vs Washington (Big Ten tournament)
vs Ohio State (Big Ten tournament)
vs Iowa (Big Ten Championship)
vs Cal Baptist (NCAA Tournament Round 1)
vs Oklahoma St. (NCAA Tournament Round 2)
vs Minnesota (NCAA Tournament Sweet 16)
vs Duke (NCAA Tournament Elite Eight)
vs Texas (NCAA Tournament Final Four)
Rankings
<nowiki>*</nowiki>AP did not release a week 8 poll.
Awards and honors
- November 18, 2025 â UCLA was the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Team of the Week
- December 1, 2025 â Gabriela Jaquez was named Big Ten Conference Player of the Week
- December 8, 2025 â Lauren Betts was named Big Ten Conference Player of the Week
- December 9, 2025 â Lauren Betts was named AP Player of the Week
- January 5, 2026 â Lauren Betts was named Big Ten Conference Player of the Week
- February 6, 2026 - Four Bruins were named to the Mid-Season Top 10 lists for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and WBCA Starting 5 awards: Kiki Rice (Nancy Lieberman Award), Gianna Kneepkens (Ann Meyers Drysdale Award), Gabriela Jaquez (Cheryl Miller Award), and Lauren Betts (Lisa Leslie Award).
- February 9, 2026 â Kiki Rice was named the Big Ten Conference Co-player of the Week
- March 1, 2026 â The team won the 2025-26 Big Ten conference regular season with an 18-0 record, and a Number 1 seed in the 2026 Big Ten women's basketball tournament. This is the first undefeated conference season for the Bruins since they began play in the NCAA and first in the Big Ten conference in a decade.
- March 3, 2026 â Big Ten Post Season honors were selected separately by coaches and media
- Cori Close was named Big Ten Coach of the Year (coaches and media)
- Lauren Betts was named Big Ten Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year (coaches and media, and the first time in conference history a player was honored with both)
- Angela DugaliÃÂ was named Big Ten Conference Sixth Player of the Year (coaches and media)
- Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice were named to the media and coaches All-Big Ten First Team (coaches and media)
- Gabriela Jaquez and Gianna Kneepkens were named to the media All-Big Ten Second Team, with Gabriela also named to the coaches All-Big Ten Second team
- Sienna Betts was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman team
- March 5, 2026 â Lauren Betts was named to the Athletic All-America first team
- March 8, 2026 â The Bruins won the 2026 Big Ten women's basketball tournament
- Kiki Rice was named the Big Ten Conference tournament Most Outstanding Player
- Kiki Rice and Lauren Betts were named to the Big Ten AllâÂÂTournament team
- New tournament records were set in the championship game by the UCLA Bruins in the victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes, including the largest margin of victory in a Big Ten Tournament Final, the highest shooting percentage by a team in any Big Ten Tournament game, the most assists in any Big Ten Tournament game with 34, and tying the record for most steals in the Big Ten Tournament Championship Game with 15.
- The 51 point margin of victory over number 8 ranked Iowa is the highest of any team over a top ten team in the NCAA era.
- March 11, 2026 â Lauren Betts was named both the ESPN 2026 All-American first team and the USA Today All-America first team
- March 16, 2026 â Lauren Betts was named to The Sporting News All-America first team.
- March 17, 2026 â Lauren Betts was named to the USBWA All-America first team. Kiki Rice was named to the USWBA All-America third team.
- March 18, 2026 â Lauren Betts was named to the AP All-America first team. Kiki Rice was named to the AP All-America third team. Gianna Kneepkens was an AP All-America honorable mention.
- March 29, 2026 â Lauren Betts was Most Outstanding Player of the Sacramento 2 regional, and was named to the regional all-tournament team along with Angela Dugaliàfollowing the win over Duke to reach the Final Four.
References
Notes