LOS ANGELES - When UCLA women's basketball's offensive threats are imagined, one six-foot-seven figure comes to mind: senior center Lauren Betts.
The 2025 Lisa Leslie Award Winner pulled in her laundry list of awards after exploding onto the map last season and when any opposing team sees the Bruins on their schedule, Betts is who they prepare for.
Thursday's game between the Bruins and the UCSB Gauchos was no different: Betts found herself surrounded by defenders all day and as a result, she was held to just 12 points all game, though she found other ways to be productive with seven rebounds and six assists.
The fatal flaw that comes with putting so much emphasis on Betts defensively is that the rest of the Bruins are often left less challenged than they should be. UCLA's greatest strength is their connectivity and the variety of threats they present in head coach Cori Close's system, especially when it comes to the guard position.
"I think that our guards really do put in the work everyday," Gabriela Jaquez said. "Coach Cori tells us, 'If that's your shot, shoot that shot, work on that shot, and that's what we did. And then obviously Lauren's [Betts] getting double-teamed, triple teamed down there... all of us love to play in transition. So, pushing the pace is obviously great buckets for us."
Jaquez, Kiki Rice and Gianna Kneepkens all scored 20+ points in Thursday's win. The skill and versatility that these guards bring to the court makes for a nearly unstoppable combination and adds an aspect to the Bruins' game that wasn't always present last season. With a team so full of talent, it can sometimes be hard for all of that talent to show up at the same time. But, when one player on any given day has the hot hand, the Bruins have shown exceptional skill in letting that particular talent on that particular day shine and do what they can to support it.
"We definitely have different people every night that can step up," Close said. "I think it's just that choice, and it's a daily choice. Everybody wants to have a 20 point game every night, because there are so many of them that are capable... I think it does show the depth of this team and the capabilities, but I think it wouldn't be showing if there wasn't also selflessness."
Kneepkens joined UCLA this past offseason, transferring into the program from Utah for her last year of college eligibility. Kneepkens brings an elite three-point shot to the offense, something that would have been sorely missed considering the transfer of Londynn Jones to rival USC. While Kneepkens was quiet offensively during the Bruins' season opener at Honda Center, she came alive in front of the Pauley Pavilion crowd with a 4-8 three point performance.
Jaquez has been another standout. Through the first two games of the season she has averaged 18 points and 8.5 rebounds per game and introduced her own three point prowess on Thursday, shooting 4-7.
"Every offseason, my three point shooting has been a huge emphasis for me and every year it's gotten better. Again, stacking the days, stacking the years, because I didn't come in as a great shooter and I had to fix a lot of things in my shot," Jaquez said. "So, fixing it and repping it has made it better."
UCLA's three point shooting is something of a departure from last season, though it's a small sample size. The Bruins averaged seven triples a game in 2024-25 and through the first two games of this season they've averaged 8.5 a game.
"It's been a real emphasis for us because when you have a player like Lauren Betts who forces rotations all the time... you have to be able to burn people on that. And we had some great nights last year on that and we had some inconsistent nights on that," Close said. "I think it's not only the efficiency of the three point shooting was an emphasis, but the depth of how far we can shoot."