2025–26 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team

2025–26 UCLA Bruins women's basketball
2025–26 UCLA Bruins women's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	0–0 (0–0 Big Ten)
Head coach	Cori Close (15th season);
Assistant coaches	Tasha Brown; Tony Newnan; Soh Matsuura; James Clark;
Home arena	Pauley Pavilion

2025–26 Big Ten women's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Illinois	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Indiana	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Iowa	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Maryland	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Michigan	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Michigan State	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Minnesota	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Nebraska	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Northwestern	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Ohio State	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Oregon	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Penn State	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Purdue	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Rutgers	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
USC	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Washington	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–
Wisconsin	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–

† 2025 Big Ten tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 2025–26 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team will represent the University of California, Los Angeles during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Bruins will be led by head coach Cori Close in her fifteenth year, and will play their home games at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA is coming off of its first Final Four run in program history.

Previous season

The Bruins finished the 2024–25 season with a 34-3 record, including 16-2 in Big Ten play to finish in second place to USC. UCLA proceeded to beat USC in the Big Ten conference tournament to win the championship.^[1] They received the number 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament and reached their first Final Four game, where they were eliminated by the eventual national champion UConn.^[2]

Offseason

Departures

UCLA departures
Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Janiah Barker	0	F	6'4"	Junior	Marietta, GA	Transferred to Tennessee
Avary Cain	2	G	6'1"	Freshman	Santa Maria, CA	Transferred to Oregon
Londynn Jones	3	G	5'4"	Junior	Riverside, CA	Transferred to USC
Zania Socka-Ngumen	6	F	6'3"	Freshman	Silver Spring, MD	Transferred to Indiana
Elina Aarnisalo	7	G	5'10"	Freshman	Helsinki, Finland	Transferred to North Carolina
Kendall Dudley	22	F	6'2"	Freshman	Lewisville, TX	Transferred to Michigan

Additions

UCLA incoming transfers
Name	Position	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous school
Megan Grant	G/F	5'10"	Senior	San Mateo, CA	UCLA (softball)
Gianna Kneepkens	G	6'0"	Senior	Duluth, MN	Utah

Recruiting

College recruiting information
Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight
Sienna Betts F	Centennial, CO	Grandview High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	N/A
Sienna Betts F	Recruit ratings: ESPN: (98)
Lena Bilić G	Zagreb, Croatia		6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	N/A
Lena Bilić G	Recruit ratings: No ratings found
Christina Karamouzi G	Sweden		6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	N/A
Christina Karamouzi G	Recruit ratings: No ratings found
Overall recruit ranking:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, On3, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2025 Player Commits". ESPN. Archived from the original on July 13, 2025.

Roster

2025–26 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	1	Kiki Rice	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	Sr	Sidwell Friends	Bethesda, MD
G	3	Christina Karamouzi	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Fr		Luleå, Sweden
G	5	Charlisse Leger-Walker	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	GS	St Peter's School, Cambridge Washington State	Waikato, New Zealand
G	8	Gianna Kneepkens	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Sr	Marshall School Utah	Duluth, MN
G/F	9	Lena Bilić	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Fr	XVI Gimnazija	Zagreb, Croatia
F	11	Gabriela Jaquez	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Sr	Camarillo	Camarillo, CA
F	16	Sienna Betts	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	Fr	Grandview	Centennial, CO
F	30	Timea Gardiner	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Sr	Fremont Oregon State	Ogden, UT
F	32	Angela Dugalić	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	GS	Maine West Oregon	Des Plaines, IL
F	33	Amanda Muse	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	RS So	Heritage	Brentwood, CA
G/F	43	Megan Grant	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Sr	Aragon High School	San Mateo, CA
C	51	Lauren Betts	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	Sr	Grandview Stanford	Centennial, CO

Head coach

Cori Close (UC Santa Barbara)

Assistant coach(es)

Tony Newnan (UC Santa Barbara)
Tasha Brown (St. Ambrose)
Soh Matsuura (UCLA)
James Clark (La Salle)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
November 26, 2025* 11:00 a.m.	vs. Texas Players Era Festival	TBA Las Vegas, NV
November 27, 2025* 5:00 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.	vs. South Carolina or Duke Players Era Festival	TBA Las Vegas, NV
November 30, 2025*	Tennessee	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time.

References

^ "Women's Basketball Captures Big Ten Championship Over Trojans, 72-67". uclabruins.com. March 9, 2025. Retrieved July 13, 2025.
^ "Women's Basketball Falls to UConn in Final Four, 85-51". uclabruins.com. April 4, 2025. Retrieved July 13, 2025.

[1] "Women's Basketball Captures Big Ten Championship Over Trojans, 72-67". uclabruins.com. March 9, 2025. Retrieved July 13, 2025.

[2] "Women's Basketball Falls to UConn in Final Four, 85-51". uclabruins.com. April 4, 2025. Retrieved July 13, 2025.

[1]

[2]

UCLA Bruins women's basketball
Venues	Pauley Pavilion (1974–present)
Rivalries	USC Crosstown Cup
Culture & lore	Joe & Josie Bruin Full Court Press
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
AIAW and NCAA national championships in bold; AIAW and NCAA Final Four appearances in italics