The No. 1 seed UCLA women’s basketball team will host No. 16 seed Cal Baptist on Saturday in the first round of the women’s NCAA tournament.
The Bruins (31-1, 18-0), who won the Big Ten tournament championship last week, were the second overall seed in the tournament field revealed Sunday, just behind overall No. 1 UConn.
The Lancers (23-10) won the WAC title with a victory over Abilene Christian. It is their second NCAA tournament bid in the past three seasons after falling to UCLA in the first round as a 15-seed in 2024.
Cal Baptist, based in Riverside, is led by freshman guard Lauren Olson (15.1 points per game) and junior guard Filipa Barros (10.0 rebounds per contest). The Lancers elevated to a Division I program in 2021 and qualified for the NCAA tournament that season but were not allowed to participate while transitioning from Division II.
Also at Pauley Pavilion, Ivy League champion Princeton (26-3) will face Oklahoma State (23-9) in the first round, advancing to face the winner of UCLA and Cal Baptist.
Some other potent teams within UCLA’s region include No. 2 seed LSU (27-5), No. 3 seed Duke (24-9) and No. 5 seed Ole Miss (23-11).
The Bruins are in the second quadrant, matching up with the third overall seed — Texas — on the Sacramento side of the bracket. The Longhorns are the only team that has beaten UCLA so far this season.
There was a question as to whether UCLA would be named the top seed overall after going undefeated in Big Ten play and winning the conference tournament final over Iowa by 51 points, but the undefeated Huskies stayed atop the bracket.
UCLA fell to UConn in the Final Four a season ago, and this year are led by a group of upperclassmen in seniors Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez, along with graduate students Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gianna Kneepkens.
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