2024–25 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team

2024–25 UCLA Bruins women's basketball
2024–25 UCLA Bruins women's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
Record	16–0 (5–0 Big Ten)
Head coach	Cori Close (14th season);
Associate head coach	Shannon Perry-LeBeauf
Assistant coaches	Tasha Brown; Tony Newnan; Soh Matsuura; James Clark;
Home arena	Pauley Pavilion
	Seasons ← 2023–24 2025–26 →

2024–25 Big Ten women's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 4 USC	6	–	0	1.000	16	–	1	.941
No. 9 Ohio State	5	–	0	1.000	16	–	0	1.000
No. 1 UCLA	5	–	0	1.000	16	–	0	1.000
No. 8 Maryland	5	–	1	.833	15	–	1	.938
Minnesota	4	–	1	.800	16	–	1	.941
Indiana	4	–	1	.800	12	–	4	.750
Nebraska	4	–	2	.667	13	–	4	.765
No. 20 Michigan State	3	–	2	.600	13	–	3	.813
Washington	3	–	2	.600	12	–	5	.706
Oregon	3	–	3	.500	12	–	5	.706
Illinois	2	–	3	.400	12	–	4	.750
No. 25 Michigan	2	–	3	.400	11	–	5	.688
No. 23 Iowa	2	–	4	.333	12	–	5	.706
Wisconsin	1	–	5	.167	10	–	7	.588
Northwestern	0	–	5	.000	7	–	9	.438
Purdue	0	–	5	.000	7	–	9	.438
Penn State	0	–	6	.000	9	–	8	.529
Rutgers	0	–	6	.000	8	–	9	.471

† 2025 Big Ten tournament winner As of January 12, 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
Kendall Dudley W	Centreville, VA	Sidwell Friends School	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	N/A
Kendall Dudley W	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 96
Avary Cain G	Santa Maria, CA	Saint Joseph High School	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	N/A
Avary Cain G	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 96
Zania Socka-Nguemen F	Washington, D.C.	Sidwell Friends School	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	N/A
Zania Socka-Nguemen F	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 95
Elina Aarnisalo G	Helsinki, Finland	Mäkelänrinne Upper Secondary School	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	N/A
Elina Aarnisalo G	Star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/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

Cori Close (UC Santa Barbara)

Assistant coach(es)

Shannon Perry-LeBeauf (Iowa)
Tony Newnan (UC Santa Barbara)
Tasha Brown (St. Ambrose)
Soh Matsuura (UCLA)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

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			Walter Pyramid^[a] Long Beach, 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:^[5]^[6]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Final
AP	5	5	5	1 (20)	1 (25)	1 (24)	1 (30)	1 (30)	1 (30)	1 (30)											Not released
Coaches	6	6	6	2 (14)	1 (16)	1 (23)	1 (31)	1 (30)	1 (31)	1 (31)

References

^ "UCLA Officially Joins Big Ten Conference". uclabruins.com. August 2, 2024. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
^ UCLA moves up to No. 1 in AP Top 25 women's basketball poll for first time in history. CBS News, November 25, 2024
^ "Bruins Fall to LSU in Sweet Sixteen, 78-69". uclabruins.com. March 30, 2024. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
^ "Penn State vs UCLA game moved from Pauley to the Walter Pyramid". January 12, 2025. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
^ "2024-25 Women's Basketball Schedule". uclabruins.com. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
^ "Big Ten Announces 2024-25 Women's Basketball Conference Schedule". uclabruins.com. September 19, 2024. Retrieved October 2, 2024.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[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] "Penn State vs UCLA game moved from Pauley to the Walter Pyramid". January 12, 2025. Retrieved January 12, 2025.

[6] "2024-25 Women's Basketball Schedule". uclabruins.com. Retrieved October 2, 2024.

[7] "Big Ten Announces 2024-25 Women's Basketball Conference Schedule". uclabruins.com. September 19, 2024. Retrieved October 2, 2024.

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v t e UCLA Bruins women's basketball
Venues	Pauley Pavilion (1974–present)
Rivalries	USC Crosstown Cup
Culture & lore	Joe & Josie Bruin Full Court Press
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
AIAW and NCAA national championships in bold; AIAW and NCAA Final Four appearances in italics