Lauren Betts dominates again as UCLA advances to Elite Eight showdown with LSU

Thuc Nhi Nguyen, Los Angeles Times on Mar 29, 2025

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SPOKANE, Wash. — When UCLA signed the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in 2022, the program-changing prospects immediately flashed their potential by leading the Bruins to the Sweet 16. Opposing coaches were impressed, telling UCLA coach Cori Close that the freshmen would be so good “one day.”

Internally, Gabriela Jaquez squirmed each time she heard the praise.

“I’m just like, ‘I don’t care, I want to be good now,’” the UCLA junior guard said this week. “Why do we have to wait?”

The wait is over.

UCLA’s once vaunted freshman class has come of age, arriving in the Elite Eight as juniors after leading the Bruins to a 76-62 win over No. 5 Mississippi in the Regional 1 semifinal on Friday at Spokane Arena.

In their third consecutive Sweet 16, the Bruins (33-2) finally pushed forward to a regional final for the first time since 2018 and will play for the regional crown Sunday against No. 3 seed Louisiana State at noon PDT (ABC). The Tigers, who knocked off the Bruins in the Sweet 16 last season, took down No. 2 North Carolina State 80-73 on Friday.

Betts, a transfer addition to the talented junior class, was unstoppable with 31 points on 15-for-16 shooting with 10 rebounds as the Bruins shot a season-best 60% from the field.

Junior guard Kiki Rice, who was the No. 2-rated prospect in her high school class behind only Betts, had 13 points and seven assists. After being held scoreless from the field in the first half, Rice hit a key three-pointer early in the third quarter that capped an 8-0 run for the Bruins. The Rebels, who trailed by just one at halftime, never got the lead down to single digits after junior Londynn Jones hit a three-pointer to put the Bruins up by 12 with 6:07 to go.

Rice, Jones and Jaquez were the core of UCLA’s second-ever top-ranked recruiting class, but the group has continued to transcend through key transfer additions.

None was bigger than Betts. The Stanford transfer has averaged 30.5 points and 12 rebounds in the last two games, missing only four shots from the field on 33 attempts.

UCLA lost forward Lina Sontag last spring from their original top class of recruits, and Christeen Iwuala transferred to Mississippi and scored seven points with nine rebounds against her former team. But Close brought in Janiah Barker and Timea Gardiner, the No. 3 and No. 6 prospects, respectively, in the 2022 HoopGurlz recruiting rankings.

Three years after the historic group started, UCLA now has four of the top six players in the class and six of the top 22.

“I think it’s just been cool to see the growth, especially me, Londynn and Kiki being freshmen together,” Jaquez said this week. “We were always confident in ourselves and we didn’t want to be good when we were older, we want to be good now, but I think we’ve just grown so much and I think the experience has been a really crucial part of that.”

For two consecutive seasons, the top prospects were left licking their wounds from Sweet 16 exits. Last year’s loss as the No. 2 seed to No. 3 LSU especially haunted them. All offseason, they thought about the missed opportunity to lead the program’s next step.

Sunday will be a test of just how much the former No. 1 recruiting class has grown. A rematch of last year’s Sweet 16 has now turned into UCLA’s chance to make its first NCAA Final Four.