Pac 12 Preview: UCLA
Last Season:
UCLA was 18-13 last season and 8-8 in conference play.
The Coaches:
Cori Close is in her 12th season as the Head Coach. Close is averaging 20 wins per year. She went to HS in the San Jose area.
Shannon Perry-LaBeauf is in her 12th year and she coached at Duke for 5 seasons.
Tony Newnan like the others is in his 12th season.
Tasha Brown is in her 5th season at UCLA.
Losses:
Iimar’l Thomas, last season Thomas averaged 16 points and 6 rebounds.
Jaelynn Penn, last season Penn averaged 9 points and 4 rebounds.
Natalie Chou averaged 10 points, and made 36% of her threes.
Chantel Horvat averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds per game.
Guard Kayla Owens averaged 2 points.
Pretty sure they all graduated, plus some were already in Grad school last season.
Additions:
Kiki Rice 5-11 Frosh Point Guard ranked # 2
Gabriela Jaquez 5-11Frosh Forward ranked # 19
Londynn Jones, 5-4 Frosh PG from SoCal Ranked # 23
Christeen Iwuala, 6-2 Frosh Post ranked # 49
Lina Sontag, 6-3 Frosh Post from Germany
The Returning Team:
Charisma Osborne, 5-9 Sr Guard who averaged 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
Isobel Anstey, 6-4 Redshirt Soph Post from Australia. Last season Anstey averaged 3 points and 4 rebounds. Anstey will miss the first month of the season.
Gina Conti, 5-11 Grad Transfer from Wake Forest. Conti was with the Bruins last season however missed playing with injuries.
Angelia Dugalic, 6-4 Redshirt Soph Post a transfer from Oregon. Angelia averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds. She was ranked # 22 out of HS. Sadly Dugalic is out for the season with an injury.
Emily Bessoir, 6-4 Redshirt Soph Post from Germany, who averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds two years ago however was out for the past season with a knee injury.
Darius Davis-Onu is a 5-9 Redshirt Soph averaged 5 points.
Domin Camryn Brown, 5-11 Sr Guard who averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds.
Brynn Masikewich, 6-3 Sr Forward from Canada who played just 2 games after not playing the previous year.
The Schedule:
The only top 25 team scheduled is South Carolina. However the Battle 4 Atlantis will feature UCLA, Tennessee, Texas, Gonzaga and Louisville and three other teams.
Predictions:
Wow big losses for sure but no transfers in or out. Health will be a key and already one loss for the season. Hopefully Bessoir is healthy and shows that her promise of two years ago is fulfilled. With Conti and Rice at the point and maybe both on the floor at the same time Osborne is free to score even more. Jaquez will be one of the top frosh in the league along with Rice. I believe this team is underrated by the pre-season polls and will fight for a top 3 spot in the conference.
2023 Recruiting:
Amanda Muse, 6-4 Post from NorCal ranked # 38.
Agree with you 100%. Stanford is my #1 team, but I'm also a member of 'Bruin Elite' (I worked at UCLA for many years), and regularly receive updates on the team and players. They're excited in Westwood.
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