The 2024–25 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team represented the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

during the

2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season The 2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began on November 4, 2024. The regular season ended on March 16, 2025, with the 2025 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament beginning with the First Four on March 19 and ending with ...

. The Bruins were led by head coach

Cori Close Cori Rashel Close (born July 29, 1971) is an American college basketball coach who has served as the head women's basketball coach for the UCLA Bruins since 2011. Before UCLA, she spent time as an assistant coach at Florida State University and h ...

in her fourteenth year, and played their home games at

Pauley Pavilion Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion, commonly known as Pauley Pavilion, is an indoor arena located in the Westwood Village district of Los Angeles, California, on the campus of UCLA. It is home to the UCLA Bruins men's and women's basketball teams. Th ...

. This marked the program's first season as a member of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. The Bruins were ranked No. 1 in the polls for the first time in program history after defeating the defending 2024 national champion

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

on November 24, 2024. The 2024–25 season was the first for UCLA and USC in the

and a notable chapter in the history of the

UCLA–USC rivalry The UCLA–USC rivalry is the American collegiate athletics rivalry between the UCLA Bruins sports teams of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and USC Trojans teams of the University of Southern California (USC). Both univers ...

. The Bruins were undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the polls before the two teams met in 2025. On February 13, 2025, the No. 6 Trojans defeated the Bruins 71–60 for the Trojans' first victory against a No. 1 team at home. In the re-match at Pauley Pavilion on March 1, 2025, the Trojans and Bruins were tied for first place in the Big Ten in the final regular season game. In that game, No. 4 ranked USC Defeated No. 2 ranked UCLA 80–67 to win the regular season Big Ten championship. Both games drew national attention and media coverage, with many celebrities in attendance. The teams met a third time in the 2025 Big Ten women's basketball tournament championship game on March 9, 2025. The Bruins defeated the Trojans to win the Big Ten Tournament championship and received the conference's automatic bid to the

2025 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The 2025 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was a 68-team single-elimination tournament to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball national champion for the 2024–25 NCAA Division I ...

. UCLA finished the regular season with a 27–2 record, 16–2 in conference and a second-place finish, with their only losses coming to USC. For the first time in school history, the UCLA Bruins were a number 1 seed and also the number 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament. UCLA reached the Final Four of the

NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, sometimes referred to as Women's March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Div ...

for the first time in program history. Arriving at the Final Four, the UCLA women's basketball team traveled more than any other in the country during the season with 36,116 air miles. They lost to the eventual national champion

UConn Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, with its main campus located in Storrs, Connecticut. The school is a member of ...

in a semi-final game.Nguyen, Thuc Nhi
UCLA's run to the Final Four ends in record rout by UConn: 'We got our butts beat.'
Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2025

Previous season

The Bruins finished the 2023–24 season with a 27–7 record, including 13–5 in Pac-12 play to finish in third place. They received an at-large bid to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, and were eliminated in the sweet sixteen by

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

Offseason

Departures

Incoming

Recruiting

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, , - !colspan=12 style=, Notes:

Rankings

Awards and honors

* February 20, 2025 – Lauren Betts broke the school record with 67 blocks in a seasonDe Leon, Anthony
Lauren Betts breaks a school record in UCLA victory over Illinois.
Los Angeles Times, February 20, 2025 * March 9, 2025 – Lauren Betts was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team and was the most outstanding player * March 9, 2025 – First Big Ten Tournament Championship and First 30 wins in a seasonWomen’s Basketball Captures Big Ten Championship Over Trojans, 72-67.
UCLABRUINS.com, March 9, 2025 * March 19, 2025 – Lauren Betts was named as both an AP and a

USBWA The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 with the urging of National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The U ...

First Team All–American * March 20, 2025 – Coach Cori Close was named USBWA Coach of the Year * March 24, 2025 – Coach Cori Close was named a finalist for the

Naismith College Coach of the Year The Naismith College Coach of the Year Award (officially known for sponsorship reasons as the Werner Ladder Naismith College Coach of the Year) is an award given by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to one men's and one women's NCAA Division I collegiate c ...

* March 25, 2025 – Lauren Betts was named one of four finalists for the Naismith Women's Player of the YearConsidine, Madeleine
Bruins' Anchor Lauren Betts Makes Naismith Push.
Sports Illustrated, March 26, 2025 * March 26 , 2025 – Tony Newnan was named the WBCA Assistant Coach of the YearConsidine, Madeleine
Longtime UCLA Assistant Earns National Honor.
Sports Illustrated, March 27, 2025 * April 2, 2025 – Coach Cori Close was the 2025 Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year * April 2, 2025 – Lauren Betts was named the 2025 Naismith Women’s College Defensive Player of the Year * April 2, 2025 – Kiki Rice received the NCAA

Elite 90 Award The Elite 90 Award or more formally The Elite 90 Academic Recognition Award Program, originally the Elite 88 Award and later the Elite 89 Award, is an award by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recognizing the student athlete wi ...

* April 3, 2025 - Cori Close was named The Associated Press Coach of the Year * April 4, 2025 – Lauren Betts was named to the John R. Wooden Award Women’s All America team * April 5, 2025 – Lauren Betts was named the Lisa Leslie Center of The Year * April 6, 2025 – Lauren Betts was named to the NCAA WBB Final Four all-tournament teamWomen's March Madness: All-Tournament Teams in NCAA history.
ESPN, April 8, 2025

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:2024-25 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

UCLA Bruins women's basketball seasons

NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament Final Four seasons