UCLA Coach Shares Heartwarming Aliyah Boston Team USA Story
Indiana Fever stars Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston (and head coach Stephanie White) were present at the Team USA training camp in Durham, North Carolina, last month.
Clark and Boston weren't the only young women's basketball icons present at the camp, as many of the best under-25 players were present. Among these was UCLA Bruins star center Lauren Betts, who will almost surely be a top-three pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft.
After UCLA's December 31 victory over Penn State, Betts heaped praise upon Boston by saying, "I actually had the chance to talk to Aliyah Boston when I was at the training camp for [Team] USA, and I think she spoke to me because, obviously, she watches a lot of our games. Which is crazy, because she's like my idol.
"She was telling me, she was like, 'Lauren, I don't care what happens in the game. If you miss 10 layups. If you're open around midrange, shoot the ball. Like, stop being, trust yourself.' And so, I think to hear it from her, that was really, really cool, because she's obviously an amazing post [player] and she has had such a great college career. So to hear it from her was really cool," Betts continued.
Boston then was heard praising Betts on the Big Ten Network a few days later, which showed more mutual respect between these two elite posts.
“i’m really, really happy with what she’s doing right now.” - aliyah boston on lauren betts vs usc https://t.co/UGsii3Ovt6 pic.twitter.com/1OHjSDTe7G
— MOBILE (@bettsnation) January 4, 2026
Cori Close reveals heartwarming Aliyah Boston moment from Team USA camp
UCLA head coach Cori Cose spoke with Indiana Fever On SI on January 7 and shared a heartwarming story when asked about Boston and Betts' relationship.
"It’s really interesting because I actually didn’t even know Aliyah was one of Lauren’s heroes. I had the opportunity to coach Aliyah Boston with USA Basketball, and she has an incredible heart — not just as a player, but as a person," Close said.
"When Lauren came back from camp, I asked her, 'What was the highlight of the whole experience?' And I honestly thought she was going to say something about being the only college player invited, or that she held her own, or that the coaches told her she did well. But that’s not what she said. She said it was a lunch conversation with Aliyah Boston. She talked about how impactful that moment was and how much she looked up to her growing up," Close continued.
Cori Close (@CoachCoriClose) of #UCLA shared a great story about how Aliyah Boston took Lauren Betts under her wing during the Team USA training camp last month, and what that meant for Betts pic.twitter.com/7qJ0ksrwgj
— Grant Young (@GrvntYoung) January 7, 2026
"I give Aliyah so much credit. It would have been easy for her to just say, 'Let the young one fend for herself.' But instead, she took the time to pour into Lauren. When I saw the clips of Aliyah talking about Lauren at halftime, it made me smile because I know how much that meant to Lauren. It has real power.
"You want people at the top of their craft using their platform to reach down and help someone else. Aliyah is living that out. And Lauren is doing the same in her own way. After that Penn State game, a little girl came up to Lauren and said, 'You saved my life,' because of Lauren’s honesty about her mental health journey. Lauren just started crying. She was so touched," Close added.
"And I told her, 'Lauren, you’re living out what you received from Aliyah. You’re now passing it on.' That’s what you want sports to be about.
Full interview with Cori Close (@CoachCoriClose) about her partnership with @wescomfinancial to forgive $10M for families in debt from last year's SoCal wildfires, the lack of media coverage on women's basketball, Team USA leadership, among other things!https://t.co/Oe4mstIXRv
— Grant Young (@GrvntYoung) January 7, 2026
Boston placing Betts under her wing at that training camp not only impacted Betts, but trickled down to a younger of generational players, and will help them both on and off the court. Close is right in saying that's what sports are all about.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the Indiana Fever and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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