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No. 2 UCLA women to honor ‘committed’ core of 6 seniors

February 21, 2026

LOS ANGELES — Cori Close couldn’t contain her emotions. The tears started forming as the first question was posed, and the attention turned from No. 2 UCLA’s victory against Washington to its next game.

Sunday’s matchup with Wisconsin represents the final regular-season home game for the six seniors who make up the Bruins’ core. The group is responsible for a historic season, in which UCLA has clinched at least a share of its conference title for the first time this century.

Before the Bruins (26-1, 16-0) hunker down for a stretch run and try to achieve glory, Sunday offers an opportunity to defeat the Badgers (13-14, 5-11 Big Ten) and win the Big Ten outright and a final chance to remember the seniors’ impact and journey.

There’s UCLA lifers Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez. There’s Lauren Betts and Angela Dugalic, the pair who needed one year playing for other teams in the Pac-12 to see that special fabric. And there’s Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gianna Kneepkens, two more Pac-12 transfers who were drawn to the culture in Westwood and added to it.

“Our core group is really committed,” Close said. “And I always say, ‘You can’t have a connected group unless you have a committed group.’”

Rice and Jaquez started that process, committing to UCLA before the 2022 season, choosing it over juggernauts UConn, Stanford and Duke. Their choices had a trickle-down effect, Close said, to spark the future transfers. Their loyalty made everything possible.

Rice is enjoying the fruits of that labor.

“I think she’s done exactly what she came here to do,” Close said. “She came to blaze a new trail. She came to raise the standard of the program. She came to have a byproduct of that be accomplishing things from a championship standpoint.”

While the point guard has yet to fulfill that ultimate goal, Close is advising her that “the journey is way more important than how the destination ends up.” Her play will depend, Close said, on how much she “surrenders the outcome and enjoys being present in the process that really, she’s helped create.”

If not for Rice setting the foundation, the 6-foot-7 Betts wouldn’t have transferred from Stanford to become an All-American and raise the ceiling.

Dugalic is just happy to still be here.

UCLA put Dugalic on the “hot seat” – a tradition the Bruins hold, in which teammates praise one another – before Thursday’s game against Washington. They joked with her about how the last two years were house money because they thought she’d only have three years of eligibility after transferring from Oregon in 2021.

Sunday is a milestone to celebrate her six-year journey.

And Close said it doesn’t mean anything less for Leger-Walker, a Washington State transfer, and Kneepkens, formerly of Utah, to choose to play their final seasons in Westwood.

“I don’t care if it’s one year, two years, four years,” Close said. “They have been completely sold out for the mission of our program. And I’m just so grateful for them.”

The character on this UCLA team has made for a joyful season, Close said.

“It has been really fun to be part of their process, and just coach them in the day to day,” Close said. “And I told them that in the locker room, ‘I don’t want to miss a moment.’”

Those moments will soon come to an end. Close is ensuring her players understand and value that over any result.

Wisconsin (13-14, 5-11 Big Ten) at No. 2 UCLA (26-1, 16-0)

When: 2:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Pauley Pavilion

TV: Peacock

Orange County Register

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No. 2 UCLA women to honor ‘committed’ core of 6 seniors

Wisconsin (13-14, 5-11 Big Ten) at No. 2 UCLA (26-1, 16-0)

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