Close Guides UCLA to History Again

As the final horn sounded at Spokane Arena on Sunday and UCLA’s players leapt into each other’s arms, celebrating a 72-65 victory over LSU to secure the program’s first-ever NCAA Final Four berth, Coach Cori Close wasn’t just thinking about the scoreboard.

She was thinking about a village.

“It takes a village to build a program,” Close said after the game. “If you just don't want a team, but you want a true program that impacts people's hearts first, you don't do that alone. I sit here with great pride and gratitude, and more than anything else, I'm just so incredibly grateful to be a part of their process.”

In her 14th season leading the Bruins, Close has guided UCLA to new heights. The program’s breakthrough win over the Tigers wasn’t just a milestone in school history, it was a culmination of a journey rooted in resilience, culture and connection.

While junior guard Gabriela Jaquez and junior center Lauren Betts delivered key performances on the court, Close turned the postgame spotlight onto the character and growth of her team. She praised not just their execution, but their mindset.

“We've been having great first quarters and great third quarters,” Close said. “At the quarter break, we said, ‘OK…what are we going to do different to come out and execute?’

" … We got two kills in that period of time, which is three stops in a row, and that sort of fueled us and got us going with some momentum. … I think we were up 14, at one point, when they came back and cut it to 5. I think the game was won in the poise and the choice to go back to neutral, get ourselves refocused, and make the next right step.”

Close credited her staff, specifically Assistant Coach Tasha Brown, for the team’s mental preparation.

Before the game, Brown led a visualization exercise in the locker room, asking players to stand based on their roles as returners, transfers, or freshmen naming what each group brought to the team.

“What became obvious is that we are a new and different group that had earned a different level of confidence,” Close said. “We expected to win, and we looked around that room and we had visualized it. But more importantly, we committed to execute it.”

The internal growth with shared belief has been Close’s mission since she was hired in 2011 without prior head coaching experience. She took time postgame to thank those who believed in her vision.

“I remember I texted Dan Guerrero a few weeks ago and just said, ‘Thank you for taking a risk on me,’” she said. “I’m so humbled and grateful that they would believe in this kid from Milpitas that had never been a head coach.

" … They believed in our mission…to truly invest in young women from the inside out and be committed to that first, and that's not an easy risk to take when someone's unproven, and I'll be eternally grateful for that risk that they took.”

This season, UCLA’s roster featured seven newcomers and six returners. From the outset, Close emphasized that talent would be the floor, but chemistry, habits and character would be the ceiling. That message, she said, shaped everything.

“It was obvious we had enough talent,” Close said. “But it was, how do we become a group that’s better together … our focus all year long … how do we help each other be better because we're teammates than anyone could ever do individually on their own?”

For Close, Sunday’s win was about much more than history. It was about process over outcome. Character over hype. Mission over moment.

“This is the lowest field-goal percentage we’ve had in a really long time,” she said. “Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us, influenced our behavior tonight.”

And now, that behavior has brought UCLA to the biggest stage in women’s college basketball.

“They inspire me every day,” Close said. “The way that they commit to give to each other selflessly, and sacrificially and intentionally grow, and choose a growth mindset, it's not easy. I am one blessed coach.”

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