Class of 2024 Wing Kendall Dudley Commits to UCLA Women's Basketball
One of the nation's top prospects is coming to Westwood.
Class of 2024 wing Kendall Dudley has committed to UCLA women's basketball, she revealed live on ESPNU on Friday. Dudley was fresh off dropping 21 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks in Sidwell Friends School's (DC) semifinals victory at the State Champions Invitational, and she will now appear in the finals on Saturday.
Dudley picked the Bruins over nine other teams she also announced as semifinalists back in October – Virginia Tech, Texas, Louisville, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Michigan, Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Georgia. She had additional offers from Arizona, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Howard, Rhode Island and James Madison.
UCLA sent its offer to Dudley on June 7, 2022.
Dudley is a five-star recruit, according to espnW. She ranks No. 13 in her class overall, and No. 1 among wings.
Of the HoopGurlz Super 60 prospects who have announced their commitments, Dudley is the third-highest ranked.
Playing alongside current UCLA freshman Kiki Rice at Sidwell Friends in 2021-2022, Dudley averaged 8.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.4 steals per game. Dudley saw a slight minutes boost as a junior this year, and she averaged 9.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.7 steals per game as a result.
Dudley has one more year of high school left, but she'll get to play another two years with Rice once she arrives in Westwood. Her former teammate was a McDonald's All-American and Gatorade National Player of the Year before joining the Bruins, and Rice wound up making the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team at the end of her debut season.
Coach Cori Close has now reeled in her third five-star recruit in three cycles, adding to Rice and wing Gabriela Jaquez last year. That 2022 class ranked No. 1 in the country, and while the 2023 class is limited to four-star post Amanda Muse, Close and her staff now have a premier building block for their 2024 class.
This stretch comes off the back of a few small and relatively low-ranked classes, when UCLA was heavily impacted by COVID-19 reclassifications and international complications.
The Bruins can put that era firmly behind them, as they have once again picked up a major national recruiting win to help round the future roster.
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