UCLA women’s basketball has six seniors and graduate students entering the 2026 WNBA Draft after this season. On Monday night, those players competed in their final home game at Pauley Pavilion during No. 1 seed UCLA’s second-round 87-68 victory over No. 8 seed Oklahoma State.
Many of those players like guards Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez have been part of UCLA’s program for their entire collegiate careers. Other players like center Lauren Betts and forward Angela Dugalić transferred to UCLA after their freshman seasons.
As the Bruins move on to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament, these seniors reflected on the past few years they spent playing in Pauley Pavilion.
“It’s crazy this is the last few weeks of my college career,” Rice said, per Sports Central LA. “But [I’m] staying in the present moment and being really focused on it, enjoying this time with my teammates and entire staff here, enjoying these last few weeks of memories I’ll cherish forever and leaving everything out there on the court and not having any regrets.”
“These last four years have been some of the most transformational of my career and of my life,” Rice added. “… This is by far one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life.”
Dugalić, who transferred to UCLA from Oregon in 2021, said she was emotional after coming off the court for the final time at home.
“Part of me wishes media didn’t come in afterwards so I could just cry in peace,” Dugalić said. “I suppressed a lot of those emotions going out on the court, and then once I came off the court, it just hit me all at once and then I started crying. Lots of emotions but they’re happy tears.”
The Jaquez Family Has Been Part of UCLA For Seven Years
Jaquez’s connection to UCLA is a bit more unique. Her older brother, Jaime Jaquez Jr., also played all four seasons of his collegiate career with the Bruins starting in 2019.
The brother-sister pair were at UCLA together during Jaquez Jr.’s senior season and Jaquez’s freshman season. The 2026 All-Big Ten Second-Team selection explained how playing her last home game will not only be a change for her but also her entire family.
“My family, I saw them they were tearing up. All of them are here from Camarillo, and it’s seven years that they’ve been driving to Westwood to watch me and my brother play, so it’s going to be a change for sure,” Jaquez said.
UCLA will take on No. 4 seed Minnesota in the Sweet 16 on Friday at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
About the Author
