How the UCLA Bruins finally built an NCAA champion

PHOENIX – When U.C If we look back at the history-making weekend, one image stands out: Lauren Bates racing down the court, turning to face Madison Booker, and jumping with her arm extended overhead.

Pitts’ denial in the national semifinals against Texas on Friday — described by ESPN broadcaster Ryan Rocco as a “block for the ages” — sealed the Bruins’ spot in their first NCAA title game. On Sunday afternoon, they clinched the title with a 79-51 win over South Carolina.

Sunday’s game was not close, as the Bruins dominated from start to finish. UCLA’s seniors scored all 130 points in their Final Four run, and their freshmen began to exit the title game with more than three minutes left, starting with Betts and guard Kiki Rice. Gabriella Jaquez, who grew up in Southern California and dreamed since her childhood of playing for the University of California, scored a three-pointer with 2:55 minutes left in the game and then sat on the bench to begin the celebration and wipe away some tears of happiness.

For many years, UCLA was a successful team that fell short of making it to the biggest stage. From 2016 to 2024, the Bruins made six stops in the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight. UCLA continued to have good seasons that never amounted to great.

This year, all the pieces finally came together, with seven seniors, four of whom didn’t start their college careers at UCLA, but elevated the program to the top of the sport. As Friday’s game-saving block showed, Betts — the 6-foot-7 center who transferred to UCLA from Stanford before the 2023-24 season — was the crucial piece that fit right in.

“This program has changed my life in the best way possible,” Betts said entering Sunday’s title match. “I am forever grateful to UCLA. It is the best decision I have ever made.”

But Bates isn’t the only newly crowned champion who has taken a circuitous route to Westwood.

Forward Angela Dugalic started for Oregon State. Charlize Leger-Walker started at Washington State and fellow guard Gianna Knipkens at Utah State. Megan Grant, one of this year’s seniors, didn’t need to transfer because she was already at UCLA – playing softball. She joined the hoops program this season, with the softball team’s blessing, to bring an infectious atmosphere of joy to the basketball team.

“My responsibility (is) to put the bricks we have in the perfect position,” UCLA coach Corey Close said of leading the Bruins’ team-building step by step over the past 15 seasons. “We’re not just trying to build a wall.”

Instead, Close built a championship team. In the Women’s Final Four with all four No. 1 seeds advancing, the Bruins were the No. 1 favorite, finishing 37-1 and defeating the three-time champion Gamecocks for the title. Jaquez (21 points, 10 rebounds) and Pitts (14, 11) led the way in a game in which UCLA never trailed.

“We helped each other through our toughest times and built each other back up,” Bates said. “For me, it’s not really about the wins and losses, it’s about this whole journey that we’ve been on together.”

Rice came to UCLA in 2022 as the No. 2 recruit in the country, at the same time the No. 1 recruit, Betts, was headed to Stanford. They thought they would be a contender in the Pac-12. They finished their college careers as teammates, winning conference and national championships.

“It’s really cool to be able to play at Pauley Pavilion,” Rice said, “and to be able to look around every time we step foot on that field and see all the retired jerseys and national championship banners. It means a lot to add to that legacy.”

When bets remain Stanford in 2023 One year later, her confidence was shattered. She was still struggling during her first season with the Bruins but took a mental health break that allowed her to reset her life and basketball career.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned these past three seasons at UCLA is to always believe in what I can do and surround myself with good people,” Bates said.

“No matter what I do on the court, it doesn’t diminish my value as a person. I have people who love me no matter how many points I score.”

That peace of mind has helped Betts reach her potential on the court. Betts, a first-team All-American and the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year the past two seasons, was also the Big Ten’s player of the year for the season. Projected to have a high first-round pick in the WNBA draft on April 13, Rice, Jaquez, Leger-Walker, Knipkens and Dugalic could also be selected.

Bates vs. Booker in the semifinals on Friday was an example of the kind of highlight reels and high-impact play that make it seem almost routine. If Pitts’ timing had been off, the Longhorns could have made a three-point play and tied the game. Instead, Bates got the block, caught the ball and passed it to Rice, who was eager to get fouled and go to the goal line to seal the winning free throws.

“She’s one of the best defenders I’ve ever seen,” Leger-Walker said of Betts. “When she does something like that, it’s a momentum shift. We rely on her a lot for things like this, and she’s consistent with it.”

It also felt like a symbolic moment: the demons of last year’s semifinals were officially exorcised, when UCLA lost 85-51 to UConn, a bleak end to what had been one of the best stories of the season. Betts was the only Bruin to score in double figures with 26 points.

But players say they got motivated when their long-awaited Final Four trip last season didn’t go as they had hoped. Leger-Walker was with the Bruins at the time, though she missed that season to rehab a knee injury she suffered in January 2024 while with Washington State. Knipkens was watching the 2025 finale from afar, knowing she was ready to transfer from Utah.

“I wish I was in this position,” Knipkens said.

Rice and Jaquez, the Bruins’ two remaining players from the coveted five-man rookie class in the fall of 2022, also remain far from believing they can reach that pinnacle.

“This was always the plan coming to UCLA for me and Kiki as freshmen: get to the Final Four, win the national championship,” said Jaquez, whose brother Jaime Jr. played for the Bruins men’s team and is now with the NBA’s Miami Heat.

“I never thought about moving. Some people asked me why I stayed?” I said: Why should I leave? I love UCLA.”

“It shows the strong relationship they have with Corey,” South Carolina coach Don Staley said of Jaquez and Rice. “It means they’re the cornerstone of their rise to this level. There’s nothing stronger than having that trust and that loyalty to stay with the program you were in.”

Close, ca A native who played at UC Santa Barbara, he was a UCLA assistant in the early 1990s and got to know legendary UC men’s coach John Wooden, who won 10 NCAA titles. He died the year before she returned to take over the UCLA women in 2011 after serving as an assistant at Florida State.

His philosophies always resonated with her. It’s easy to imagine the Bruins loving Loden Close, who has now delivered a second national championship to the UCLA women’s program.

The first was in 1978, before women’s basketball was governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Led by Hall of Famer Ann Meyers Drysdale, the Bruins went 27-3 and captured the AIAW championship with a 90-74 win over Maryland. The NCAA era did not begin until 1982.

These Bruins are very intentional in acknowledging their hoops ancestors.

“It’s an opportunity for us to shine a light on them and say, ‘We see you, and we appreciate you. You’re part of the reason we’re here,'” Close said. “Many of the women on this team are here in the building, and they are our season ticket holders.”

Myers Drysdale, who has long been linked to the Phoenix Suns and Mercury, was at the arena for Bruins games this weekend.

“I’m very proud to see this team give their best when their best is needed,” Myers Drysdale told ESPN on Sunday. “Corrie is an amazing coach and representative of our game – setting it up and getting these young women to believe, sacrifice and be unselfish towards each other. Cory has built an amazing foundation. I am so proud of all of them.”

UCLA women’s basketball will always have the pioneers of 1978 to revere. Now the software is officially updated.

Bates elicited laughter as she tried to explain one of her favorite quotes from Close.

“The rings will collect dust and — what’s her name? — the signs. The signs will — whatever. The memories she creates… oh, something like that. She says that all the time,” Bates said, smiling. “It’s a beautiful message, but I hear it a lot.”

Close later provided the actual quote: “The banners hanging in the gyms and the rings collect dust, but who you become and who you influence you will treasure forever.”

True, but UCLA now has a logo and NCAA Championship rings to hold on to forever, too.