UCLA’s championship run had a lot of moving parts, but Lauren Betts was the constant force at the center of it all. Now the Big Ten has added another line to her résumé: women’s Athlete of the Year.
The conference announced its annual Athlete of the Year awards for men and women, with every Big Ten school submitting one male and one female nominee. UCLA put forward baseball shortstop Roch Cholowsky and Betts. Cholowsky did not take home the men’s honor, which went to Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, while Betts won the women’s award.
It’s another fitting recognition for a player who helped drive UCLA through the best season in program history. The Bruins finished the regular season 26-1 and went 18-0 in Big Ten play, then won the Big Ten Conference Tournament and the NCAA Tournament to capture the program’s first-ever national championship.
Betts was the anchor throughout. She averaged 17.1 points per game while shooting 58% from the field, and she also led UCLA with 8.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. That production earned her Big Ten Player of the Year honors, making her the first Bruin to win a conference player of the year award since Maylana Martin took the PAC-10 award in the 1998-1999 season.
The pressure only grew once the NCAA Tournament arrived, but Betts answered with her best stretch of the year. She averaged 21 points per game on 68.8% shooting, along with 9.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.8 blocks per game as UCLA finished the job and brought the title to Westwood.
Betts has since moved on to the WNBA, where she was selected fourth overall by the Washington Mystics.
UCLA head coach Cori Close has already turned to the transfer portal to rebuild the roster for another run at a title. Most of the additions are guards, and the next potential star in the middle could be Betts’ younger sister, Sienna Betts.
Sienna was a top recruit in the 2025 high school class, but she did not need to carry a heavy load last season because UCLA leaned on its seniors. That gave her a chance to learn and develop within Close’s system.
Now heading into her sophomore year, Sienna Betts is expected to have a much larger role. She could end up trying to fill the same space her older sister just occupied for the Bruins.
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