The 2021–22 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team represented the University of California, Los Angeles during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Bruins were led by eleventh-year head coach Cori Close. They played their home games at Pauley Pavilion and competed as members of the Pac-12 Conference.
The Bruins were invited to the WNIT as the automatic qualifier for the Pac-12 Conference. It was the Bruins' first WNIT appearance since 2015, when they were WNIT champions.
Previous season The Bruins finished the season 17–6, 12–4 in Pac-12 play to finish in third place. As the third seed in the Pac-12 women's tournament they advanced to the championship game where they lost to Stanford. As a three seed in the NCAA tournament, the Bruins managed to beat Wyoming in the 1st round, but then they lost to Texas in the second round to end their season.
Offseason
Departures Due to COVID-19 disruptions throughout NCAA sports in 2020–21, the NCAA announced that the 2020–21 season would not count against the athletic eligibility of any individual involved in an NCAA winter sport, including women's basketball. This meant that all seniors in 2020–21 had the option to return for 2021–22. UCLA Departures Lindsay Corsaro G 6'1" Junior Indianapolis, IN Graduated Michaela Onyenwere F 6'0" Senior Aurora, CO Graduated; selected 6th overall by the New York Liberty in the 2021 WNBA draft Lauryn Miller F 6'1" Senior Kirkwood, MO Graduated
Incoming transfers Name Num Pos. Height Year Hometown Previous school Gina Conti 10 G 5'11" Graduate Student Grove City, OH Wake Forest IImar'I Thomas 24 F 5'10" Graduate Student Oakland, CA Cincinnati Jaelynn Penn 31 G 5'10" Graduate Student Louisville, KY Indiana Angela Dugalić 32 F 6'4" Sophomore Des Plaines, IL Oregon
Preseason October 12, 2021 – The Bruins were picked to finish third in both the 2021-22 Pac-12 Preseason Media and Coaches Polls, behind Stanford and Oregon October 25, 2021 – Gina Conti was named to the Nancy Lieberman Award top 20 watch list (Top point guard) October 26, 2021 – Charisma Osborne was named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award top 20 watch list (Best shooting guard) November 3, 2021 – Preseason All-Pac-12 team: Charisma Osborne; Gina Conti and Natalie Chou (Honorable mention) November 9, 2021 – Charisma Osborne was named to three watch lists (Wade Trophy, Wooden Award, and Naismith Trophy)
Roster
Schedule
!colspan=9 style=| Regular Season
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Source:
Rankings
*The preseason and week 1 polls were the same.^Coaches did not release a week 2 poll.
Awards and honors Recipient Award (PAC-12 Conference) Stats (PPG/RPG/FG%) Week Date awarded Ref. Player of the Week 31.0/6.0/68.8 November 29-December 5 December 6, 2021 Player of the Week January 17 – January 23 January 24, 2022 Player of the Week February 21 – February 27 February 28, 2022 All-Pac-12 team – March 1, 2022 All-Pac-12 team – March 1, 2022 All-Defensive, Honorable Mention – March 1, 2022 All-Freshman, Honorable Mention – March 1, 2022 January 5, 2022 – Charisma Osborne named to the mid-season top 25 John R. Wooden Award watch list January 31, 2022 – Charisma Osborne was named to the John R. Wooden Award's late season top 20 watch list February 8, 2022 – Charisma Osborne was selected to the Ann Meyers-Drysdale Award top 10 watch list and to the Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy midseason team April 4, 2022 – IImar'I Thomas named to the WNIT All-Tournament team
Statistics
Updated through February 26, 2022
Scoring 1594 1480 Scoring Average 66.4 61.7 Field goals - Att 582–1433 509–1305 3-pt. Field Goals - Att 147–437 168–451 Free Throws - Att 283–366 294–410 Rebounds 878 792 Assists 331 298 Turnovers 323 358 Steals 153 162
Notes
References