# 2024–25 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team

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. The Bruins were ranked No. 1 in the polls for the first time in program history after defeating the defending 2024 national champion South Carolina on November 24, 2024.
The 2024-2025 season was the first for UCLA and USC in the Big Ten Conference and is a notable chapter in the history of the UCLA–USC rivalry. The Bruins were undefeated and ranked #1 in the polls for the very first time in program history before the two teams met in 2025. The Bruins were #1 for twelve weeks before the game against the #6 ranked Trojans at Galen Center on February 13, 2025. USC defeated UCLA 71-60 for the Trojans' very first defeat of a #1 team at home. In the re-match at Pauley Pavilion on March 1, 2025, the Trojans and Bruins were tied for first place in the Big Ten in the final regular season game. In that game, #4 ranked USC Defeated #2 ranked UCLA 80-67 to win the regular season Big Ten Championship. The teams met a third time in the 2025 Big Ten women's basketball tournament championship game on March 9, 2025. The #4 ranked UCLA Bruins defeated the #2 ranked USC Trojans to win the Big Ten Tournament championship.
The Bruins were ranked #1 again in the polls following the Big Ten tournament victory. For the first time in school history, the UCLA Bruins were a number 1 seed and also the number 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

## 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.

## 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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. ||||||

## 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 | W | 16–0 (6–0) | Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA |
| January 15, 2025 6:30 p.m., Peacock | No. 1 | Penn State | W 83–67 | 17–0 (7–0) | Walter Pyramid (1,563) Long Beach, CA |
| January 20, 2025 12:00 p.m., FOX | No. 1 | vs. No. 25 Baylor Coretta Scott King Classic | W 72–57 | 18–0 | Prudential Center (6,147) Newark, NJ |
| January 23, 2025 4:00 p.m., FS1 | No. 1 | at Rutgers | W 84–66 | 19–0 (8–0) | Jersey Mike's Arena (3,138) Piscataway, NJ |
| January 26, 2025 11:00 a.m., NBC | No. 1 | at No. 8 Maryland | W 82–67 | 20–0 (9–0) | Xfinity Center (13,648) College Park, MD |
| February 2, 2025 12:00 p.m., BTN | No. 1 | Minnesota | W 79–53 | 21–0 (10–0) | Pauley Pavilion (6,184) Los Angeles, CA |
| February 5, 2025 6:30 p.m., Peacock | No. 1 | No. 8 Ohio State | W 65–52 | 22–0 (11–0) | Pauley Pavilion (6,822) Los Angeles, CA |
| February 9, 2025 1:00 p.m., B1G+ | No. 1 | at Oregon | W 62–52 | 23–0 (12–0) | Matthew Knight Arena (6,534) Eugene, OR |
| February 13, 2025 7:00 p.m., Peacock | No. 1 | at No. 6 USC Rivalry | L 60–71 | 23–1 (12–1) | Galen Center (10,258) Los Angeles, CA |
| February 16, 2025 6:00 p.m., BTN | No. 1 | No. 22 Michigan State | W 75–69 | 24–1 (13–1) | Pauley Pavilion (7,563) Los Angeles, CA |
| February 20, 2025 6:30 p.m., BTN | No. 3 | No. 25 Illinois | W 70–55 | 25–1 (14–1) | Pauley Pavilion (5,435) Los Angeles, CA |
| February 23, 2025 11:00 a.m., Peacock | No. 3 | at Iowa | W 67–65 | 26–1 (15–1) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (14,998) Iowa City, IA |
| February 26, 2025 5:00 p.m., Peacock | No. 2 | at Wisconsin | W 91–61 | 27–1 (16–1) | Kohl Center (3,897) Madison, WI |
| March 1, 2025 6:00 p.m., FOX | No. 2 | No. 4 USC Rivalry | L 67–80 | 27–2 (16–2) | Pauley Pavilion (13,659) Los Angeles, CA |
| Big Ten women's tournament ||||||
| March 7, 2025 3:30 p.m., BTN | (2) No. 4 | vs. (10) Nebraska Quarterfinals | W 85–74 | 28–2 | Gainbridge Fieldhouse (7,500) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 8, 2025 5:30 p.m., BTN | (2) No. 4 | vs. (3) No. 13 Ohio State Semifinals | W 75–46 | 29–2 | Gainbridge Fieldhouse (7,805) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 9, 2025 1:30 p.m., CBS | (2) No. 4 | vs. (1) No. 2 USC Championship/Rivalry | W 72–67 | 30–2 | Gainbridge Fieldhouse (8,358) Indianpolis, IN |
| NCAA women's tournament ||||||
| March 21, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN | (1 S1) No. 1 | (16 S1) UC San Diego/Southern First round | | | Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time. Source: ||||||
Notes:
* ↑ Game moved from Pauley to the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach due to the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles.

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | 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) | 1 (29) | 1 (27) | 1 (31) | 1 (32) | 1 (31) | 3 (6) | 2 (11) | 4 | 1 (16) | 1 (19) | |
| Coaches | 6 | 6 | 6 | 2 (14) | 1 (16) | 1 (23) | 1 (31) | 1 (30) | 1 (31) | 1 (31) | 1 (30) | 1 (29) | 1 (30) | 1 (29) | 1 (31) | 3 (3) | 2 (7) | 4 | 1 (20) | 1 (21) | |

## Awards and honors

* February 20, 2025 – Lauren Betts broke the school record with 67 blocks in a season
* March 9, 2025 – Lauren Betts was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team and was the most outstanding player
* March 9, 2025 – First 30 wins in a season
* March 19, 2025 – Lauren Betts was named to the AP and the U.S. Basketball Writer's Association (USBWA) First Team All–American