Defending champion UCLA womens basketball lands

UCLA girls’s basketball workforce has added some star energy as its revamped roster begins to take form.

Former Iowa State ahead Addy Brown announced Thursday she is committing to UCLA, giving the Bruins one of the top gamers in the portal.

Brown averaged 11.9 factors, 8.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per recreation while taking pictures 43.1% from the ground and 33.8% from three-point distance with the Cyclones last season. She performed just 21 video games due to injury, but she is one of the better two-way gamers in the nation on the switch market.

The 6-foot-2 ahead co-starred with Audi Crooks for Iowa State the past few seasons and was a half of the mass exodus from the Cyclones’ program.

The Bruins reeled in former North Carolina junior guard Elina Aarnisalo and former Texas Christian senior guard Donovyn Hunter a few weeks in the past, including two more skilled gamers to the depleted beginning lineup after a report six UCLA gamers had been chosen in the WNBA draft.

UCLA also signed Arkansas sophomore guard Bonnie Deas earlier this month. She is probably going to start at level guard for the Bruins and is one of the best rebounding guards in the nation.

Along with returner Timea Gardiner, the Bruins are beginning to type considerably of a core to defend their national championship. Gardiner was a starter during UCLA’s 2024-25 Final Four run, but missed all of this past season with injury and has one season of eligibility left.

A lineup with Deas and Aarnisalo in the backcourt, Hunter at the three and Gardiner or Brown at the 4 and including another big or Sienna Betts at the 5 could be a aggressive lineup in the Big Ten.

Before going to TCU, Hunter performed two seasons at Oregon State where she earned All-Pac-12 Defensive Team honorable point out and All-Pac-12 Freshman workforce honors. This past season with a Horned Frogs workforce that went to the Sweet 16, she was third in scoring with 10.2 factors per recreation and averaged 3.2 rebounds per contest. She also shot 45.7% from the sector and was 33.7% from past the arc.

Aarnisalo performed her freshman yr in Westwood after she initially dedicated to UCLA in 2025. Due to accidents from level guard Kiki Rice at the start of the 2024-25 season, she was pressured into motion early her freshman season and completed the yr averaging 5.1 factors per recreation.

The Helsinki native averaged 10.2 factors per recreation for the Tar Heels as a sophomore last season while taking pictures 47.3% from the sector and 40.3% from the arc. The Bruins will desperately need to change the three-point manufacturing misplaced with the departure of Rice, Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker.

UCLA coach Cori Close said she needed to signal 5 gamers from the portal. She in all probability wants one more guard and a little more ahead depth coming off the bench following the departures of Gabriela Jaquez and Angela Dugalic.

Lena Bilic and Amanda Muse are returners coming off the bench who obtained a little bit of enjoying time in the event and ought to have a lot bigger roles, but they’re still comparatively unproven in late-game conditions. They will get a likelihood to develop as backups with some more Power Four skilled starters now in the fold.