UCLA Dominates Again, Makes History

The UCLA women’s basketball team made history Wednesday night, improving to 17-0 with an 83-67 victory over Penn State at Walter Pyramid. While the win extended the program-record start to the season, Coach Cori Close wasn’t entirely satisfied with her team’s performance, offering insightful reflections on the game and the areas for improvement.

Junior center Lauren Betts was the standout player of the night, recording her 10th double-double of the season with 22 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks. Her seven blocks tied the program’s single-game record and underscored her dominance on the defensive end.

Close praised Betts’ ability to anchor the team, both defensively and offensively.

“I think she covered for a lot of things,” Close said postgame. “Lauren is really covering for us, especially on the defensive end and being an anchor of who we could go inside, I thought she covered for actually how poorly we played.”

Betts’ presence not only shuts down opponents’ strategies but elevates her teammates’ performance.

“She pretty much mitigates their go-to post player,” Close said. “Everybody else plays better when Lauren’s out there.”

Betts continues to grow as a leader and a player, a fact Close highlighted when discussing the junior’s progress.

For the first time since its season opener against Louisville, UCLA trailed at the end of the first quarter. Close attributed the sluggish start to a lack of intensity, as reflected in the team’s performance metrics.

“Our strength coach told us at halftime that that first quarter was the lowest load of the year,” Close said. “We weren’t playing as hard, we weren’t sitting in our stance, and we weren’t fighting and being physical with them.”

The Bruins responded by turning up their defensive effort in the second quarter, leading to a 10-0 run and a 44-30 halftime lead.

“You’ve got to earn that style by playing great defense," Close said. "Once we started getting stops and then getting clean outlets, we were able to play in transition.”

Close acknowledged the team’s strides on the offensive end, particularly in getting the ball inside and playing through Betts. She also highlighted the team’s improvement in creating opportunities from paint touches, whether through Betts or drives to the basket.

Close’s postgame comments also reflected on the broader impact of women’s sports, particularly the approval for women’s teams to be paid for playing NCAA Tournament games.

“I think we have grown our game that when you have something like this, it reinforces that we are an asset worth investing in,” Close said. “Our sport needs to be treated as the asset and the good investment that it actually is.”

UCLA’s will return to action on Monday at the Coretta Scott King Classic, where it will face Baylor.

As the Bruins continue their historic season, their focus remains on improvement, leadership and playing with purpose — qualities that have made them a team to watch.

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