LOS ANGELES — Sienna Betts, the No. 2-ranked incoming freshman in the country according to ESPN, will miss at least Monday’s season opener against San Diego State with an undisclosed lower left-leg injury, UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close said Wednesday.
Is there any doubt of Betts’ status going forward?
“No question about that,” Close said. “So we’re really excited, actually, to get her back and to get her in the mix. She’s not in a season-ending situation at all.”
Betts, a 6-foot-4 freshman forward and the sister of All-American senior center Lauren Betts, was widely anticipated to play in the Bruins’ frontcourt – even occasionally alongside her older sibling who led the Bruins while averaging 20.2 points and 9.5 rebounds per game a year ago.
“I’ll tell you, she’s one of the most amazing learners I have coached in my 33 years,” Close said late last week. “Her knowledge of the game, her ability to see things then put it into practice. I think actually there’s going to be a silver lining of this little return-to-play time for her, that she’s going to be able to really focus on some work in her shooting pocket.”
Close continued: “I just think sometimes your, you know, adversity like this can sometimes force you into skill development in a way that maybe you wouldn’t have attacked the same way if you didn’t have this time and a lot of that just credit goes to Sienna.”
No. 3 UCLA will turn to its veteran core, which includes the likes of senior guard Kiki Rice and senior forward Gabriela Jaquez, as well as newcomers Charlisse Leger-Walker (who sat out last season while recovering from a torn ACL after transferring from Washington State) and Utah transfer guard Gianna Kneepkens (who averaged 19.3 points per game last season).
The Bruins’ starting lineup is expected to include at least three seniors – with forward Angela Dugalić also an option in the mix – along with Leger-Walker and Kneepkens, who are graduate students.
About 20 WNBA coaches, general managers and scouts attended UCLA’s practice Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion – a combine-like event for professional teams to get a preseason first-hand look at draft-eligible Bruins. Every WNBA had a personnel member in attendance.
“It’s an opportunity to see what it feels like to play in a high-stakes environment,” Rice said. “We don’t get a ton of opportunities before the season starts, and that’s going to be really valuable for us.”
Close credited assistant coach James Clark with coming up with the idea for a pro-day practice – something the program believes it’s the first to do for its players – and said Clark and assistant general manager Sam Skinner navigated Big Ten and NCAA hurdles to get the event approved.
“The NBA does it with college men’s teams all the time; why aren’t we doing this for our women?” Close said. “So I’m really proud that we’re the first women’s program to ever do something like this. And so it really was just a fun experiment to showcase the great work our players have done.”
