UCLA women’s basketball reaching NCAA championship game is one final hurrah for the old Pac-12 

Aside from Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, no one was more passionate about Pac-12 women’s basketball than Cori Close.

It’s not surprising then that UCLA’s run to its first NCAA Tournament championship game has the feel of a final hurrah for the Pac-12 as constituted through 2023-24. 

The Bruins (36-1) outlasted Texas 51-44 Friday night in a national semifinal that left Close feeling guilty “because it was not pretty in any way, shape or form” but more so proud of her team’s toughness at Mortgage Matchup Center.

They led all but 54 seconds to avenge their only loss, 76-65 to Texas on Nov. 26, and extend a school record win streak to 30 games ahead of Sunday’s championship game against South Carolina (36-3), a 62-48 winner over defending champion Connecticut.

So a team from the West with deep Pac-12 roots even two years into its Big Ten existence will play for a title in the first Women’s Final Four in the West since 2012.

“We’re really thankful we’re on the west coast,” guard Gabriela Jaquez said. “We do a lot of traveling during the regular season in the Big Ten. It can be tough at times. But to be on the west coast really means a lot just because we have so much family that can make it over here, a lot of fans that can make the drive. We just appreciate everyone that came out to support us.”

UCLA starters Lauren Betts (Stanford), Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State) and Gianna Kneepkens (Utah) and sixth player Angela Dugalic (Oregon) began their college careers at other Pac-12 schools before transferring to Westwood. As did Timea Gardiner (Oregon State), injured this season, so half of the old Pac-12 is repping the Bruins including those like Kiki Rice and Jaquez who have been at UCLA all along.

All played critical roles against Texas when Close only used seven players until the final three seconds. Betts had a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double and potentially game-saving block on Madison Booker with 20 seconds left. 

Rice, Jaquez and Kneepkens scored in low double figures, Walker-Leger had four assists and Dugalic seven rebounds plus defensive credit with Jaquez for Booker’s 3-of-23 shooting.

UCLA reached the 2025 Final Four, losing 85-51 in a semifinal to eventual champion UConn. The Bruins then were without Leger-Walker, redshirting due to a knee injury, and Kneepkens, in her third full season and fourth overall at Utah.

“It was really about (finding) the perfect fit to increase the productivity and efficiency of our collective puzzle,” Close said. “They have exceeded my expectations in terms of what we were getting. I couldn’t be more thankful and thrilled to have them both.”

Rewind three years to the 2023 Pac-12 Tournament championship game in Las Vegas when Leger-Walker was MVP after leading Washington State to a 65-61 win over UCLA. 

“All of us have very unique decisions as to why we came to UCLA,” said Leger-Walker, a New Zealand native who was at Washington State from 2020-24. “A part of that factor is the familiarity. Being able to understand the type of players we are and what we were getting ourselves into. That was definitely a part of my decision, knowing who I was going to be playing with. I’ve played against them for so long and I know how great of players they are.”

Kneepkens said she opted to transfer for her final collegiate season because “I knew I needed to grow and challenge myself in different ways.”

That’s happened, her coach believes, because of the hard workers now surrounding her.

“She’s a tireless worker,” Close said. “I told her if you come to UCLA, you will be one of 12 that work that way. She almost didn’t believe me. Then I remember into the summer. She came to me and was like wow, you’re not kidding. Every day someone else is beating me to the gym. I don’t think that’s ever happened to her before.”

Betts, a 6-7 center, played just one season (2022-23) as a backup at Stanford and since has blossomed into an All-America, national Defensive Player of the Year and WNBA premier draft prospect. 

“I always talk about coming to UCLA has been the best decision I’ve ever made,” said Betts. “My only reasoning really to come to UCLA was because I just wanted to be happy at the end of the day. I wanted to be surrounded by people who had confidence in me, who could make me better as a person on and off the court.

“UCLA has changed my life for the better. I’ve gained a certain level of confidence. I’ve done things that I never thought I’d be able to do my freshman year. The amount of experiences I’ve had, people that I’ve met here, have been amazing. I’m just super grateful.”

As is Close for her band of Pac-12 alums making a final stand for a conference as recently as 2021 had two teams – Stanford and Arizona – playing for a national title.

“How lucky am I that I’ve been the head coach of two amazing conferences that are committed to women’s basketball,” said Close, in her 15th season at UCLA. “Not everybody was for a long time. I’m really thankful for the (Pac-12) coaches that invested and grew me and being a part of great leadership that really cared.”

She learned in the Pac-12 that women’s basketball should be “an asset worth investing in, not a Title IX box to check. I feel like we’re experiencing that. We are a darn good investment now.”