(Photo Courtesy of Breya Cunningham/Twitter)
Top 2023 post player Breya Cunningham includes UCLA women's basketball in top 8
The Bruins got some more good news in regards to one of their upcoming recruiting classes, this time via one of the top players in the country.
Class of 2023 post player Breya Cunningham narrowed her list of finalists to eight on Tuesday, and UCLA women's basketball made the cut alongside UConn, Oregon, Texas, Duke, Arizona, USC and Notre Dame. The Bruins made the top six for 2023 guard Amari Whiting earlier Tuesday.
Cunningham is a consensus top-five player in her class, with ESPN and ASGR Basketball ranking her at No. 4 and Prep Girls Hoops ranking her at No. 3. Her latest scouting report from espnW's Dan Olson – while it came all the way back in December 2019 at the Nike Tournament of Champions showcase – highlighted her two-way success down low.
Skilled low-post prospect brings efficient interior game, footwork, powers through contact and finishes plays with consistency; a defensive presence down low, alters shots, anticipates; mobile in transition game; among the elite post prospects regardless of class.
Olson also scouted Cunningham at the Jr. NBA in August 2019, the Team USA trials in May 2019, the Elite Girls Basketball All-American Game in April 2019 and the End-of-the-Trail camp in July 2018, when he pegged her as a future Power Five prospect at only 13 years old.
In her sophomore year at La Jolla Country Day (CA), Cunningham averaged 16.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 1.7 blocks per game and led her team to a 2021 CIF Southern California Girls Basketball Championship appearance. Even as a freshman, the 6-foot-4 Cunningham earned Second Team All-State honors from MaxPreps.
Cunningham plays her AAU ball with the Cal Stars, who just won their second national championship in six years. Notable Cal Stars alumni include former Oregon All-American Sabrina Ionescu and former UCLA guard Kelli Hayes.
Angela Jaquez – the mother of UCLA men's basketball junior Jaime Jaquez and UCLA women's basketball class of 2022 commit Gabriela Jaquez – replied to Cunningham's Tweet celebrating the Stars' title, referring to herself as Tia Angie, or Aunt Angie, suggesting the families are close.
At the moment, the only member of the espnW HoopGurls Recruiting Rankings Super 60 who has verbally committed to a school is five-star UCLA-bound Jada Williams.
Williams and Cunningham are going to be classmates at La Jolla Country Day and were also recently teammates on the Team USA U16 squad that won gold at the FIBA Americas Championship in Mexico this summer. Cunningham scored nine points with six rebounds and four blocks while Williams, the team's captain, scored 10 with eight assists in the Americans' 118-45 win over Canada in the finals. The pair combined for 23.8 points per game across the six-game tournament.
The globetrotting duo could move their party from San Diego to Westwood in two years time, should Cunningham pick the Bruins over the Huskies, Ducks and others.
Follow Connon on Twitter at @SamConnon
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @SI_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @SI.AllBruins
Read more UCLA stories: UCLA Bruins on Sports Illustrated
Read more UCLA women's basketball stories: UCLA Women's Basketball on Sports Illustrated