Among the traditional athletics in the pauuley pavilion, the UCLA women’s basketball finally has a legacy to be added

Spokane, Wash. – The UCLA has won 124 national championships in the history of the school. The women’s basketball team enters his home gym of Pauley Pavilion and sees Stendardi for 11 men’s basketball titles, nine gymnastics championships and 25 national titles for volleyball.

It is an apparently impossible inheritance to live, but a Bruins women’s basketball team has never avoided chasing. It is a step closer to the liberation of a space in its own right in that sacred gym after a victory of 72-65 on the LSU to send the Bruins to the first four finals in the history of the NCAA tournament.

“Everyone came to Ukla for this reason, to do something we didn’t do,” said the young Gabriela Jaquez. “Proud of my teammates, staff, coaches to continue improving every day and growing.”

This milestone was a long time for the program, which was successful in the Aiaw era – a title in 1978 and four other finals in 1979 – but has not yet translated into the modern era of the NCAA tournament. For decades, female basketball was a rethinking in the athletic power of the Bruins.

The UCLA took the opportunity for Close choirs, then a long -standing coach assistant at the UC Santa Barbara and the State of Florida, in 2011. The administration believed it could raise the program with its mission to build “an elite program that teaches, mentor and equipped women for life beyond college”.

Who doesn’t love confetti?! 🎉 @Uclawbb #MarchMadness X #Wfinalfour pic.twitter.com/0IRSRFMICH

– NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnesswbb) March 30, 2025

The assistant coach Tony Newnan was Semirate, selling properties in Santa Barbara when he received the call to join Close, who had trained with him in the Gauchos staff. Shannon Lebeauf was a coaching star who had worked with multiple national players of the year in Duke when he chose to help a coach for the first time to build a base in Los Angeles. Lebeauf said he would come out of coaching if he hadn’t felt fully in tune with the process. Both remained close throughout his UCLA mandate.

“I had a vision and I believed in surrounding myself with intelligent people than me and who would be aligned in that vision, but they still had to take a risk for me,” said Close. “It is not an easy risk to run when someone is not demonstrated, and I will be eternally grateful for that risk they have taken on.”

The first returns for the close era were promising on the pitch. Bruins brought the recruitment class n. 1 in 2014. That group won Wnit as a freshman, the following season went to the NCAA Sweet 16 and reached an eight -time -as -like aspect as the elderly, but this has remained the highest point for the Bruins so far.

Close, his staff and the university continued to believe that the program was keeping his promise for women who arrived, even if this has not manifested himself in the victories.

“S poured his heart and soul into the program, in everyone’s life in the program,” said Newnan, who was recently appointed the vice coach of the year of 2025. “He obtained so much off the field in everyone’s life.”

The UCLA has also discovered several Wnba professionals, including Jordin Canada, Monique Billings, 2021 Rookie of the Year Michaela Onyenwere and the 2024 Kennedy Burke champion.

Great past are supported everywhere. Denise Curry and Ann Meyers-Drysdale, who were part of the Aiaw title and have their retired numbers, are the owners of subscriptions that check-in regularly.

“They celebrated every step,” said Close. “They were behind us, they donated, they showed up, they believed in our mission. And I don’t appreciate them as much as I do in the darkest days. It is when they showed up in the trenches with me and said:” Hey, resist there. We believe in what you are doing and we are behind you 100 %. “

The great break for the closure came in 2022, when he brought his second high -level class, named after Kiki Rice, Jaquez and Londynn Jones. They gave new life in a list that had lost the NCAA tournament in the previous season and needed an influx of talents to compete at the highest levels. The high -level player of that class, Lauren Betts, joined the UCLA by Stanford the following season and players n. 3 and n. 6 (Janiah Barker and Timea Gardiner) went on board in 2024.

The main objective had always been to win and the Bruins finally had a list that could realistically achieve this goal. The lack of historical success and a recent tendency to live up to the great games refused the self -control of the UCLA, but this was the challenge that Close was waiting.

All the intangibles they close had predicted during his time at the UCLA – viewing the success, restoring neutral in chaotic atmospheres, gaining confidence conquering the challenges, choosing “us” on “me” – coincided with a team that could take those principles and perform them on the basketball court.

These Bruins are the culmination of 14 years of vision of Close, a talented team that plays for and among them in its image. Which happened to the UCLA is even sweeter.

“The way of Cori is the wooden road (John),” said Lebeauf. “Much of what has built her program is instilled in her, and I am proud of her to be attached to her guns.”

The vibrations of the post changing rooms -Printing were all the way! 📈#Gobruins pic.twitter.com/lgyfcx0ggm

– UCLA women’s basketball (@uclawbb) March 31, 2025

There is a pressure and the privilege of training a basketball team in the perpetual shadow of John Wooden, in a university that has no space to recognize the short results of national titles. Lebeauf, who acts as a coordinator of the Bruins recruitment, claims to have the responsibility of putting something new in the case of the team’s trophy every time the recruits visit. He joked the Bruins prefer to practice in the practice structure to avoid looking at all the banners inside the gym.

“How do you feel privileged to be in a place like the UCLA with a story he has?” he said. “At the same time, you want to bring your weight … to be in a place like the UCLA and be able to add to that collection will be something significant, but it is something that keeps you motivated and pushing every single day.”

This season is the crowning of Close’s career and a luminous point in the inheritance of Bruins’ women’s basketball that is growing day by day. Everyone in this team met to pursue a championship. They believed it was possible when the record track suggested differently.

Although the Bruins have celebrated their last place with boundless enthusiasm, stacking the hats on each other during the post -match interviews and sending an infinite line of staff to cut the nets, this is not where the journey ends.

At the UCLA, the standard was fixed higher, fixing the beams at the Pauley pavilion.

(Photos of Choir Close: Tyler McFarland / NCAA Photo via Getty Images)