UCLA womens basketball seeks new storybook season after title

As she watched the UCLA women’s basketball team dismantle South Carolina in the national championship game, Donovyn Hunter was struck by more than the lopsided score.She noticed how the Bruins filled defensive gaps at the right moments.They communicated.

They were connected and playing for each other.“I think I was wanting to chase that,” said Hunter, then a junior guard at TCU, “where a coach and a team is pushing you to a standard of, no matter what the score is, uphold the standard.”A similar scenario was playing out across the country for another prospective Bruin.Guard Elina Aarnisalo, who had spent her freshman season at UCLA before transferring to North Carolina, was contemplating a return to Westwood based on her knowledge of coach Cori Close’s ability to extract the best version of every player.“The standards Coach Cori holds here are huge for me,” Aarnisalo said, “and I just knew they could really help me take that next step in my own game and for my future.”It was this perpetual pursuit of excellence, perhaps more than the Bruins’ first NCAA title itself, that helped Close reload her roster after losing her top six players to the WNBA.By the time the recruiting job was finished, the Bruins had added five transfers and two freshmen to go with their five returners, all drawn by the same lure.“We have a very proven road map,” Close said, “that is easy for a group of people to buy into.”Given that the returning players are stepping into expanded roles — those who produced every point for UCLA in the championship game are gone — Close has likened this to an entirely new team writing its own story.Perhaps no one has more blank pages to fill than Sienna Betts.The sophomore forward is fully emerging from the shadow of older sister Lauren, who’s now with the Washington Mystics after establishing herself as one of the best players in UCLA history.“I’m going to have way more opportunities to be able to have the ball more in ...