Growing pains are a natural part of development.
And with a roster still learning to play with each other, these opening games allow the Bruins to work out any mistakes.
No. 11 UCLA women’s basketball (1-0) will face UC Irvine at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday evening for its second game of the new season. UCLA is coming off a 73-53 season-opening win over Lehigh at home after being up just five points at halftime.
“They (the Mountain Hawks) want to do everything off the pass and the cut and shoot threes or layups,” said coach Cori Close. “We needed to make them ball handlers and rotate from sideline ball handlers and help from baseline drives and be one-on-one for tunnel drives, and we just didn’t do that.”
(Presley Liu/Daily Bruin senior staff)
The Mountain Hawks made nine of 23 3-pointers, compared to six made shots from deep on 21 attempts by the Bruins. But this was just one of very few stats in which Lehigh was able to come out on top.
UCLA showcased its strength on the glass, outrebounding the visitors 41-25. Sophomore forward Sienna Betts and senior forward Addy Brown led the way, recording seven and six boards, respectively.
Betts also set the scoring mark for the Westwood side, recording 15 points on 7-for-13 shooting from the field. She was one of three Bruins to reach double-digit scoring, as senior guard Donovyn Hunter had 14 points and four assists on 6-for-9 shooting, including two makes from behind the arc and fifth-year guard KK Bransford added 10 points of her own.
“Me and Lauren (former Bruin center Lauren Betts) are really different,” Sienna Betts said. “I’m more risky with passing. Lauren was a little more contained, and she didn’t want to take the risk most of the time. And I’ve always been, just I don’t care whatever happens for those passes. I really trust my teammates.”
Brown, coming from Iowa State, Hunter, from TCU, and Bransford, out of Notre Dame, are three of the five transfers that have joined UCLA for this new season.
Sophomore guard Bonnie Deas entered Westwood after a year at Arkansas, where she led the team in rebounds per game. Against the Mountain Hawks, she recorded three rebounds and two steals – contributing to 11 total takeaways for UCLA.
A familiar face in Pauley Pavilion is junior guard Elina Aarnisalo, who played at UCLA her freshman season before transferring to UNC for her sophomore campaign. In her first game back in the blue and gold, she scored nine points and had four assists without a single turnover.
(Presley Liu/Daily Bruin senior staff)
“I’ve loved getting to know E (Aarnisalo), especially off the court, but on the court, she’s an amazing player,” Hunter said. “She has a lot of knowledge within this team already and how the system works. So being able to be a sponge with her and learn how she’s reading things – we talk in practice all the time.”
The Anteaters have yet to play a game in the 2026-27 season, but are coming off a 26-7 campaign. However, they lost their two leading scorers, so the highest-scoring returner is point guard Shirel Nahum, who averaged 7.3 points per game on a 35.7% clip from the field.
UCLA’s last loss at Pauley Pavilion was in March 2025 against crosstown rival USC, which was one of two home losses since the 2023-24 campaign. And with a team defending a national championship, the Bruins are ready to continue building this new squad.
“Taking care of the basketball and our passion plays,” Close said. “You all have heard me talk about that a lot. We’re not there yet. We want to get to 75 a game, and that’s taking charges, that’s deflections, that’s out-of-area rebounds.”
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