No. 1-Seed Bruins Start Dancing Against Lancers Saturday

Gabriela Jaquez_vs. Iowa (March 8, 2026)

Photo by: Caren Nicdao

No. 1-Seed Bruins Start Dancing Against Lancers Saturday

March 20, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Tickets Tournament Central UCLA Game Notes (PDF)

LOS ANGELES – No. 1-seeded UCLA begins the 2026 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship this Saturday against No. 16-seed California Baptist University.

The Bruins (31-1) are coming off their second-consecutive Big Ten tournament title and enter the Big Dance as the second overall seed. UCLA claims the No. 1 seed in the Sacramento 2 region.

UCLA and the Lancers (23-10) tip off at approximately 7 p.m. PT on Saturday to kick off the final First Round game of the 2026 March Madness tournament.

The game will be broadcast to ESPN.

GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Tip-off Time: 7 p.m. PT
TV: ESPN
TV Talent: Eric Frede, Christy Thomaskutty
Radio: UCLA Digital Radio; Westwood One; SiriusXM 81 and SiriusXM App
Radio Talent: Dave Marcus (UCLA)

TICKET INFORMATION
Single-game tickets and ticket packages for the 2025-26 First and Second Rounds in Los Angeles are still available. Fans can call (310) 206-5991, visit this link, or email tickets@athletics.ucla.edu for more information. For more information about tickets, call UCLA Athletic Sales & Service at (310) 206-5991 or via email at tickets@athletics.ucla.edu.

Parking and game day information can be found here.

MATCHUP HISTORY: vs. California Baptist Lancers
• The Bruins are 1-0 in the all-time series against the Lancers.
• The lone meeting between the programs came on March 23, 2024, in the first round of the NCAA tournament when UCLA was a No. 2 seed against No. 15-seed CBU.
• Then-sophomore Kiki Rice led all scorers with 20; Gabriela Jaquez added 17 in the 29-point win. Charisma Osborne finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds, nine assists and only one turnover.

LAST TIME OUT: W, 96-45, vs. No. 2-seed Iowa Hawkeyes (March 8)
• UCLA earned its second-consecutive Big Ten tournament title with a historic win over the Hawkeyes on Sunday, March 8.
• Six Bruins were in double figures in the 51-point win. Graduate guard Gianna Kneepkens led all scorers with 19 points. Sienna Betts joined all five starters in double digits; the freshman finished with 14 points (7-8 FG), seven rebounds and five assists.
• The result marked the largest margin of victory over an AP top-10 opponent by any team in NCAA history (since 1981-82).
• UCLA also handled the Hawkeyes, 88-65, in the regular season meeting. Angela Dugalić led the way with a career-high 22 points and five steals. The Bruins shot .578/.500/1.000 in the 23-point victory.

HISTORY MADE IN INDY
• UCLA became the 10th team in conference history to repeat as Big Ten tournament champions after capturing the 2025 and 2026 titles in consecutive seasons.
• The championship victory marks the third conference tournament title in program history, and the first back-to-back championship for UCLA WBB. The Bruins now own trophies from the 2006 Pac-10 tournament, the 2025 and 2026 Big Ten tourneys.
• Senior Kiki Rice was named Most Outstanding Player for the 2026 Allstate Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament; she averaged 16.7 points, 5.3 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game in UCLA's 3-0 weekend in Indianapolis. Senior Lauren Betts joined her on the all-tournament team.
• UCLA finished 18-0 in conference play, claiming the fourth unblemished regular season in Big Ten History (2026 UCLA, 2015 Maryland, 1999 Purdue, 1985 Ohio State).

MADE FOR MARCH: UCLA IN THE POSTSEASON
• Saturday will begin the Bruins' 21st appearance in the NCAA tournament.
• UCLA's only national championship came in 1978 when women's basketball was housed by the AIAW.
• The Bruins reached their first NCAA Final Four in 2025 after claiming the Spokane 1 Regional championship trophy.
• UCLA enters the NCAA postseason for the ninth time in the last 11 seasons (excluding the canceled 2020 postseason).
• The Bruins won the 2015 WNIT and made it to the tournament's semifinal round in 2022 for UCLA's only absences from the NCAA tournament since 2014.
• UCLA has hosted the first and second rounds each of the last four seasons, one of six DI schools to be a top-four seed each postseason.

WHAT'S BRUIN
• UCLA have 12 ranked wins this season, seven of which have come in B1G play; the Bruins also had back-to-back top-12 wins (No. 11 Ohio State, No. 9 Iowa) in the Big Ten tournament.
• The Bruins have a +21.4 margin of victory in ranked wins and league-leading +28.1 margin overall (5th in NCAA, 1st in B1G).
• The Big Ten boasts seven programs in the AP Top 25's penultimate poll: No. 2 UCLA, No. 7 Iowa, No. 9 Michigan, No. 12 Ohio State, No. 17 Maryland, No. 18 Minnesota, No. 20 Michigan. Oregon and Illinois received votes.
• The 2025-26 Bruins have won a program-record setting 25-straight games since faltering against No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26.
• UCLA won 23-straight games in 2024-25 - 22 were by a double-digit margin - setting the former streak for both records in program history. UCLA's previous-best win streak came in the 1977-78 championship campaign (21 games).
• Head Coach Cori Close has 352-career wins at the helm; she was the first Bruin women's head coach to reach 300 wins last year.
• The Bruins reached 30 wins for the second-consecutive season; 2026 marks the fastest they've gotten to 30 victories.
• UCLA has four players averaging double figures: L. Betts (16.4), K. Rice (15.3), G. Jaquez (13.6) and G. Kneepkens (13.4). Angela Dugalić (9.0) and Charlisse Leger-Walker (8.9) are just outside of the double-digit mark.
• The Bruin starting five totals 67.6 points per game, accounting for 79.4% of scoring for UCLA. Six UCLA players have scored 20+ points in a game this season; the Bruins have had multiple 20+ point scorers in four games so far.
• The Bruins lead the Big Ten in assist/turnover ratio (1.76 A/TO), assists (714 TOTAL, 22.3 APG), FG% (.513), defensive FG% (.361 OPP FG%). UCLA is also first in the conference (2nd NCAA) in rebounding margin (+14.9 RPG), first in rebounds (42.3 RPG) and first in the B1G in scoring margin (+28.1). UCLA is first in the conference in 3P% (.375), which is sixth in the country.
• UCLA sits second in the NET rankings with a nation-best 19 Quad 1 wins (19-1).
• Four Bruins were named to the Mid-Season Top 10 lists for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and WBCA Starting 5 awards: Kiki Rice (Lieberman), Gianna Kneepkens (Meyers Drysdale), Gabriela Jaquez (Miller) and Lauren Betts (Leslie).
• Lauren Betts was named to the Wooden Award Late Midseason Top 20 on Feb. 10, but point guard Kiki Rice (who was named to the top 25) was omitted on the updated watch list. They both made the Naismith Trophy POTY Late Season Team on Feb. 17.
• For the first time in program history (data going back to 1999-2000), UCLA had seven Bruins in double figures against Indiana on Feb. 15: K. Rice (17), L. Betts (16), G. Kneepkens (12), C. Leger-Walker (12), G. Jaquez (11), S. Betts (10), L. Bilić (10).
• The Bruins boast 7 McDonald's All Americans on the roster: Lauren Betts, Sienna Betts, Angela Dugalić, Timea Gardiner, Gabriela Jaquez, Amanda Muse, and Kiki Rice. Jaquez and Rice shared co-MVP honors in the all-star game.

CLINCH ME, I'M DREAMING
• With a win over Washington (Feb. 19), UCLA claimed a share of the B1G regular season title; it marked the first time the Bruins earned a share of the regular season title since 1998-99, when they shared the Pac-10 title with Oregon (15-3).
• The Bruins won the conference outright with a win against Wisconsin (Feb. 22); it was the first time in program history that UCLA has made sole claim of the regular season championship.

B1G PLAYERS, B1G AWARDS
• The Bruins claimed four of the five individual conference awards in a Los Angeles sweep of the Big Ten postseason honors.
• Senior Lauren Betts earned Player of the Year and repeated as Defensive Player of the Year; she became the first player in conference history to earn both POTY and DPOY in the same season. She was also a unanimous selection for All-Big Ten First Team (Coaches + Media) and the only unanimous selection on either Big Ten All-Defensive teams (Coaches, unanimous + Media).
• Graduate forward Angela Dugalić was named Sixth Player of the Year for her contributions off the bench.
• Head Coach Cori Close led her program to a perfect 18-0 in conference play, earning her Coach of the Year honors for 2025-26.
• Senior Kiki Rice joined her center on the All-Big Ten First Team (Coaches + Media) and Big Ten All-Defensive Team (Coaches). The point guard was a unanimous selection for both coaches and media First Teams, one of four unanimous honorees on both teams.
• Gabriela Jaquez and Gianna Kneepkens earned all-conference recognitions for their work on the court; Jaquez was All-Big Ten Second Team (Coaches + Media) as UCLA's third-leading scorer. Kneepkens joined her on the All-Big Ten Second Team (Media) and was recognized with an Honorable Mention nod by the conference coaches.
• Sienna Betts was included on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team; she averaged 6.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game in 19 regular season contests.
• Graduate guard Charlisse Leger-Walker was recognized as UCLA's Sportsmanship Honoree.

POSTSEASON HONORS AND WATCHLISTS ABOUND
• The accolades keep rolling in for Lauren Betts - she was named First Team All-America by The Athletic, ESPN, the Associated Press and the USBWA. She's also a finalist for the WBCA Coaches' All-America Team and the Wade Trophy. The 2025 Lisa Leslie Center of the Year is again a finalist for the positional award, and she was included on the Wooden Award national ballot top 15.
• Kiki Rice earned a few All-America honors of her own. The point guard was named Third Team All-America by both the Associated Press and USBWA. Rice was curiously left off the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Top Five, but she was named a WBCA Coaches' All-America Finalist and a Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Semifinalist (Top 10).
• Gianna Kneepkens earned an AP All-America Honorable Mention nod. She's also a top 5 finalist for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year.
• Gabriela Jaquez is up for the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Award; she was named a top 5 finalist on March 11.

A BRIEF NON-CONFERENCE RECAP
• UCLA opened the 2025-26 season ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 Women's Basketball Poll, released Oct. 14. The Bruins had a number of top 15 matchups in November: No. 6 Oklahoma (Nov. 10), No. 11 North Carolina (Nov. 13), No. 4 Texas (Nov. 26) and No. 14 Tennessee (Nov. 30), finishing November 3-1 against ranked opponents.
• The Bruins began the year with six of their first eight games being played at neutral site locations. UCLA made the trip to Las Vegas twice in three weeks, first for the WBCA Challenge (Nov. 13-15) and second for the Players Era Women's Championship (Nov. 26-27). The Bruins went 3-1 in Sin City this November.
• UCLA was recognized as the USBWA National Team of the Week after going 3-0 from Nov. 10-15, which included victories over No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 11 North Carolina.

46 YEARS LATER... UCLA RETURNED TO THE NATIONAL SEMIFINAL
• While the trip to Tampa was UCLA's first "NCAA" Final Four, the Bruin history books remember its time in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) prior to the NCAA's 1982 adoption and sponsorship of women's basketball.
• The Bruins made back-to-back trips to the national semifinal game in 1978 and 1979; UCLA captured the AIAW title in '78.
• The 1978 championship team was headlined by Denise Curry and Ann Meyers-Drysdale, UCLA's only retired numbers on the women's basketball side (12 and 15, respectively). Curry went on to score 3,198 points in her career (before the 3-point line was implemented in 1987-88) and amassed 1,310 rebounds in four years as a Bruin (10.1 RPG). Meyers-Drysdale was the first woman to earn a full scholarship at UCLA and went on to become the first four-time women's basketball All-American.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
• The Bruins finished the 2025-26 regular season undefeated at home, going 14-0 in Pauley.
• UCLA started last season 12-0 at home, besting the 10-0 start from 2023-24 season. Its only home loss of the 2024-25 campaign came against USC on March 1 as the Bruins completed the home season 14-1 in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial.
• UCLA finished the 2023-24 campaign with a 16-1 record at home on the year; the Bruins were 15-3 at home in 2022-23. UCLA went 16-0 at home during the 2016-17 campaign. The Bruins have lost more than 4 home games in a single campaign just one time since the 2015-16 season.