2024–25 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team

2024–25 UCLA Bruins women's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 1
APNo. 1
Record16–0 (5–0 Big Ten)
Head coach
Associate head coachShannon Perry-LeBeauf
Assistant coaches
  • Tasha Brown
  • Tony Newnan
  • Soh Matsuura
  • James Clark
Home arenaPauley Pavilion
Seasons
2024–25 Big Ten women's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 1 UCLA 5 0   1.000 16 0   1.000
No. 4 USC 5 0   1.000 15 1   .938
No. 8 Maryland 5 1   .833 15 1   .938
No. 9 Ohio State 4 0   1.000 15 0   1.000
Minnesota 4 1   .800 16 1   .941
Washington 3 1   .750 12 4   .750
Indiana 3 1   .750 11 4   .733
Nebraska 3 2   .600 12 4   .750
Oregon 3 2   .600 12 4   .750
No. 20 Michigan State 2 2   .500 12 3   .800
Illinois 2 3   .400 12 4   .750
No. 23 Iowa 2 3   .400 12 4   .750
No. 25 Michigan 2 3   .400 11 5   .688
Wisconsin 1 5   .167 10 7   .588
Penn State 0 5   .000 9 7   .563
Rutgers 0 5   .000 8 8   .500
Northwestern 0 5   .000 7 9   .438
Purdue 0 5   .000 7 9   .438
2025 Big Ten tournament winner
As of January 11, 2025
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2024–25 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team represents the University of California, Los Angeles during the 2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Bruins are led by head coach Cori Close in her fourteenth year, and play their home games at Pauley Pavilion. This marks the program's first season as a member of the Big Ten Conference.[1] The Bruins were ranked #1 in the polls for the first time in program history after defeating the defending 2024 national champion South Carolina on November 24, 2024.[2]

Previous season

The Bruins finished the 2023–24 season with a 27–7 record, including 13–5 in Pac-12 play to finish in third place. They received an at-large bid to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, and were eliminated in the sweet sixteen by LSU.[3]

Offseason

Departures

UCLA departures
Name Num Pos. Height Year Hometown Reason for Departure
Emily Bessoir 11 F 6'4" Redshirt junior Munich, Germany Graduated
Charisma Osborne 20 G 5'9" Graduate student Moreno Valley, CA Declared for WNBA Draft
Lina Sontag 21 F 6'3" Sophomore Kleinmachnow, Germany Retired
Camryn Brown 35 G 5'11" Graduate student Lewisville, TX Graduated
Izzy Anstey 43 F 6'4" Redshirt junior Melbourne, Australia Graduated
Christeen Iwuala 22 F 6’2” Sophomore San Antonio, Texas Transferred to Mississippi

Incoming

UCLA incoming transfers
Name Position Height Year Hometown Previous school
Janiah Barker F 6'4" Junior Marietta, GA Texas A&M
Charlisse Leger-Walker F 5'10" Graduate student Waikato, New Zealand Washington State
Timea Gardiner F 6'3" Junior Ogden, UT Oregon State

Recruiting

College recruiting information
Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Kendall Dudley
W
Centreville, VA Sidwell Friends School 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) N/A  
Star ratings: RivalsN/A   247SportsN/A    ESPN:5/5 stars   ESPN grade: 96
Avary Cain
G
Santa Maria, CA Saint Joseph High School 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) N/A  
Star ratings: RivalsN/A   247SportsN/A    ESPN:5/5 stars   ESPN grade: 96
Zania Socka-Nguemen
F
Washington, D.C. Sidwell Friends School 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) N/A  
Star ratings: RivalsN/A   247SportsN/A    ESPN:4/5 stars   ESPN grade: 95
Elina Aarnisalo
G
Helsinki, Finland Mäkelänrinne Upper Secondary School 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) N/A  
Star ratings: RivalsN/A   247SportsN/A    ESPNN/A   ESPN grade: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

  • "2024 Player Commits". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on November 17, 2023.

Roster

2024–25 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown
F 0 Janiah Barker 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Jr Montverde Academy
Texas A&M
Marietta, GA
G 1 Kiki Rice 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Jr Sidwell Friends Bethesda, MD
G 2 Avary Cain 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Fr St. Joseph Santa Maria, CA
G 3 Londynn Jones 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) Jr Centennial Riverside, CA
F 5 Charlisse Leger-Walker 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) GS St Peter's School, Cambridge
Washington State
Waikato, New Zealand
F 6 Zania Socka-Nguemen 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Fr Sidwell Friends Silver Spring, MD
G 7 Elina Aarnisalo 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Fr Mäkelänrinne Upper Secondary School Helsinki, Finland
F 11 Gabriela Jaquez 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Jr Camarillo Camarillo, CA
F 22 Kendall Dudley 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Fr Sidwell Friends Manassas Park, VA
F 30 Timea Gardiner 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Jr Fremont
Oregon State
Ogden, UT
F 32 Angela Dugalić 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) GS Maine West
Oregon
Des Plaines, IL
F 33 Amanda Muse 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) So Heritage Brentwood, CA
C 51 Lauren Betts 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) Jr Grandview
Stanford
Centennial, CO
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster
Last update: October 2, 2024

Schedule and results

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Regular season
November 4, 2024*
11:30 a.m., ESPN2
No. 5 vs. No. 17 Louisville
Aflac Oui-Play
W 66–59  1–0
Halle Georges Carpentier (3,472)
Paris, France
November 10, 2024*
2:00 p.m., B1G+
No. 5 Colgate W 81–63  2–0
Pauley Pavilion (3,285)
Los Angeles, CA
November 12, 2024*
11:30 a.m., B1G+
No. 5 Pepperdine W 91–54  3–0
Pauley Pavilion (3,898)
Los Angeles, CA
November 17, 2024*
4:30 p.m., BTN
No. 5 Arkansas W 101–52  4–0
Pauley Pavilion (2,255)
Los Angeles, CA
November 24, 2024*
1:00 p.m., FS1
No. 5 No. 1 South Carolina W 77–62  5–0
Pauley Pavilion (13,659)
Los Angeles, CA
November 29, 2024*
2:00 p.m.
No. 1 vs. UT Martin
Rainbow Wahine Showdown
W 97–37  6–0
SimpliFi Arena 
Honolulu, HI
November 30, 2024*
2:00 p.m.
No. 1 vs. Fresno State
Rainbow Wahine Showdown
W 97–41  7–0
SimpliFi Arena 
Honolulu, HI
December 1, 2024*
4:30 p.m., ESPN+
No. 1 at Hawaii
Rainbow Wahine Showdown
W 70–49  8–0
SimpliFi Arena (2,481)
Honolulu, HI
December 8, 2024
2:00 p.m., B1G+
No. 1 at Washington W 73–62  9–0
(1–0)
Alaska Airlines Arena (3,453)
Seattle, WA
December 14, 2024*
2:00 p.m., ESPN+
No. 1 at Long Beach State W 102–51  10–0
Walter Pyramid (2,463)
Long Beach, CA
December 16, 2024*
7:00 p.m., B1G+
No. 1 Cal Poly W 69–37  11–0
Pauley Pavilion (2,356)
Los Angeles, CA
December 20, 2024*
8:00 p.m., FS1
No. 1 vs. Creighton
Invisalign Bay Area Women's Classic
W 70–41  12–0
Chase Center (3,766)
San Francisco, CA
December 29, 2024
2:00 p.m., B1G+
No. 1 Nebraska W 91–54  13–0
(2–0)
Pauley Pavilion (5,339)
Los Angeles, CA
January 1, 2025
2:00 p.m., BTN
No. 1 No. 24 Michigan W 86–70  14–0
(3–0)
Pauley Pavilion (4,566)
Los Angeles, CA
January 4, 2025
9:00 a.m., FOX
No. 1 at Indiana W 73–62  15–0
(4–0)
Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (11,528)
Bloomington, IN
January 7, 2025
4:00 p.m., BTN
No. 1 at Purdue W 83–49  16–0
(5–0)
Mackey Arena (3,742)
West Lafayette, IN
January 12, 2025
2:00 p.m., B1G+
No. 1 Northwestern Postponed Pauley Pavilion 
Los Angeles, CA
January 15, 2025
6:30 p.m., Peacock
Penn State Pauley Pavilion 
Los Angeles, CA
January 20, 2025
12:00 p.m., FOX
vs. Baylor
Coretta Scott King Classic
Prudential Center 
Newark, NJ
January 23, 2025
4:00 p.m., FS1
at Rutgers Jersey Mike's Arena 
Piscataway, NJ
January 26, 2025
11:00 a.m., NBC
at Maryland Xfinity Center 
College Park, MD
February 2, 2025
12:00 p.m., BTN
Minnesota Pauley Pavilion 
Los Angeles, CA
February 5, 2025
6:30 p.m., Peacock
Ohio State Pauley Pavilion 
Los Angeles, CA
February 9, 2025
1:00 p.m., B1G+
at Oregon Matthew Knight Arena 
Eugene, OR
February 13, 2025
7:00 p.m., Peacock
at USC
Rivalry
Galen Center 
Los Angeles, CA
February 16, 2025
6:00 p.m., BTN
Michigan State Pauley Pavilion 
Los Angeles, CA
February 20, 2025
6:30 p.m., BTN
Illinois Pauley Pavilion 
Los Angeles, CA
February 23, 2025
11:00 a.m., Peacock
at Iowa Carver–Hawkeye Arena 
Iowa City, IA
February 26, 2025
5:00 p.m., Peacock
at Wisconsin Kohl Center 
Madison, WI
March 1, 2025
6:00 p.m., FOX
USC
Rivalry
Pauley Pavilion 
Los Angeles, CA
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Pacific Time.
Source:[4][5]

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
Week
PollPre12345678910111213141516171819Final
AP5551 (20)1 (25)1 (24)1 (30)1 (30)1 (30)1 (30)Not released
Coaches6662 (14)1 (16)1 (23)1 (31)1 (30)1 (31)1 (31)

References

  1. ^ "UCLA Officially Joins Big Ten Conference". uclabruins.com. August 2, 2024. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  2. ^ UCLA moves up to No. 1 in AP Top 25 women's basketball poll for first time in history. CBS News, November 25, 2024
  3. ^ "Bruins Fall to LSU in Sweet Sixteen, 78-69". uclabruins.com. March 30, 2024. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  4. ^ "2024-25 Women's Basketball Schedule". uclabruins.com. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  5. ^ "Big Ten Announces 2024-25 Women's Basketball Conference Schedule". uclabruins.com. September 19, 2024. Retrieved October 2, 2024.