ANAHEIM, Calif. – Expectations are high for no. 3 UCLA women’s basketball and head coach Cori Close this season, and they have good reason to be.
The Bruins dominated the college basketball world for most of last season, fighting their way to 34-3 overall record. Their final loss of the season was to the eventual national champion UConn Huskies, but now, with a rejuvenated roster headlined by senior center Lauren Betts, UCLA is back to striving for the dominance they enjoyed for so much of last season.
That quest began Monday night at the Honda Center, the usual ice of the Anaheim Ducks nowhere to be seen, and in it’s place, the hardwood court of the Orange County Hoops Classic featuring the Bruins facing off against the San Diego State Aztecs in the season opener.
The Aztecs proved they were no pushovers in the first quarter, batting hard on the defensive end, determined to not become the first victim of the Bruins’ reign of terror. When the first buzzer rang and SDSU trailed just 12-9, it looked like the Bruins could be facing a very different season than last year’s brilliance.
“I love this team. I believe in this team. They have prepared exceptionally well and have worked as hard as any team I’ve ever coached in the offseason,” Close said of her team. “That being said, we did not carry that over to the game tonight. We did not carry that over with the level of excellence and focus and effort… was not there. We need to have a sense of humility coming back on Wednesday… that is not the standard in which we have set for ourselves.”
The scorecard may not show that lack of effort that Close touched on with UCLA’s ultimate 77-53 win, but it’s the commitment to the little things that made UCLA so successful last season and propelled Close to Coach of the Year status.
Her players take note of those little things too, and and notice when they’re lacking.
“It’s the little things that we talk about everyday; the communication, the hustle plays; we have statistics that we track outside of the normal stats and we call them ‘passion plays,” graduate guard Charlisse Leger-Walker said. “We didn’t hit those goals that we set for ourselves and when we don’t do that you can really tell that it transfers over into the game and what we’re seeing.”
It was an extra special moment for Leger-Walker, who appeared in her first game as a UCLA Bruin after 600+ days of waiting. She transferred to UCLA in December of 2024, but sat out last season as a redshirt to recover from an ACL injury. In her first game as a Bruin she showed out for 12 points and a +31 rating.
Other standouts were senior guard Gabriela Jaquez with her team-leading 11 rebounds as part of a double-double with 15 points. Jaquez’s contributions inside the paint when it comes to scoring and boards offers key versatility to the UCLA offensive scheme and comes as an intrinsic part of her game.
John Panganiban-The Sporting Tribune
UCLA guard Gabriela Jaquez (11) driving into the lane during a Big 10 basketball game against SDSU, Monday, November 3rd, 2025 in Anaheim, California
“Putting in the work, shoutout to all the coaches that helped me through the offseason. Now, I’ve just been really focused on getting better and improving, but continuing to maintain what has gotten me here which is the hustle plays, the out-of-area rebounds, offensive rebounds. So, just continuing to do both,” Jaquez said.
UCLA netted their first win of the season and showed glimpses of what’s made them so elite in the past. But, as Close indicated, there is still a lot of room for improvement and a long season of work ahead.
