{"id":263003,"date":"2026-04-11T20:09:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T20:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/263003\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T20:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T20:09:07","slug":"l-a-times-readers-celebrate-ucla-womens-basketballs-title-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/263003\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. Times readers celebrate UCLA women’s basketball’s title win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Four years ago, at the McDonald\u2019s All-American game, future Bruins Kiki Rice<\/a> and Gabriela Jaquez<\/a> stood side by side at the end of the contest, having been named co-MVPs. It was the first time the two MVPs of the annual event were headed to the same college program.<\/p>\n

Now, as the only remaining members of UCLA\u2019s 2022 No. 1 recruiting class, they have reached their ultimate goal: an NCAA championship. Their work ethic, their high character, their loyalty, and the pride they take in wearing the four letters on their jerseys will long be remembered and appreciated. With fellow senior and graduate-student teammates \u2014 Lauren Betts<\/a>, Angela Dugalic<\/a>, Charlisse Leger-Walker<\/a> and Gianna Kneepkens<\/a>, all transfers from former Pac-12 teams \u2014 they have put themselves into the Bruin record books.<\/p>\n

To this awesome group of young women: Thanks for the memories and the joy you have brought to Westwood. You will be missed.<\/p>\n

Sandy Siegel
Sherman Oaks<\/p>\n

After witnessing their first-round victory in person, the UCLA women looked ready to make a run in the NCAA tournament. What we saw was a way to compete in any style of play. There was a little bit of everything. But clearly they were the best team. Congratulations on your first title. I can\u2019t wait to see the banner hanging in the rafters. Being a lifelong fan of UCLA sports, it just looks right when you see it in lights. UCLA BRUINS, NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!<\/p>\n

David DeLong
Thousand Oaks<\/p>\n

As a Trojan alum, it was awkward, but nonetheless, I was elated to see UCLA knock off USC. Party on!<\/p>\n

David Marshall
Santa Monica <\/p>\n

The UCLA women\u2019s basketball team\u2019s first NCAA national championship was especially sweet because they had to defeat USC in the title game!<\/p>\n

Nick Rose
Newport Coast <\/p>\n

Long live the Pac-12 Avengers!<\/p>\n

Mark Ryan
Fullerton<\/p>\n

What a great article on Gabriela [Jaquez] by Mirjam [Swanson.]<\/a> I just so loved rooting for this UCLA women\u2019s team because they\u2019re such wonderful people as well as players. Having said that, Gabriela would have been my choice for MVP, but I\u2019m fine with Lauren [Betts.] <\/p>\n

Michael Reuben
Anaheim Hills <\/p>\n

It was refreshing to watch the postgame after UCLA soundly defeated the University of South Carolina on Sunday. Everyone was crying \u2014 players, coaches, losers because they lost, winners because they won. This was so much nicer than the angry confrontation between coaches at the end of the South Carolina-UConn game on Friday, after which [Geno] Auriemma petulantly stalked off<\/a>. As in politics, women seem to do it better without men.<\/p>\n

Henry A. Hespenheide
Hermosa Beach<\/p>\n

Remembering Lopes<\/p>\n

Growing up in L.A. during the 1970s, the photo of Davey Lopes<\/a> sliding into second against Dave Concepcion brought back memories of the Dodgers\u2019 rivalry with the Big Red Machine during that decade. Being a huge fan of those Dodger teams, a large color photo of the Dodger infield of [Steve] Garvey, Lopes, [Bill] Russell and [Ron] Cey adorned my DTLA office for many years.<\/p>\n

Davey Lopes was the most exciting of that great infield and the inspirational leader of the \u201874, \u201877, \u201878 and \u201881 World Series teams. Not only was he superior at stealing bases \u2014 he stole 47 at the age of 40 \u2014 but also hit for power, as exemplified by his team-leading three homers and seven RBIs in the \u201878 World Series. RIP, Davey.<\/p>\n

Ken Feldman
Tarzana<\/p>\n

Garvey, Cey, Russell and Lopes. What an infield! I grew up with that group, and they cemented my love for the Dodgers at a young age. Every spring you could count on those four as starters in the infield. Davey Lopes<\/a> was just superb. A terrific base stealer who had over 500 steals in his career. Always reliable at second base and at the plate. He was an All-Star his last four years with the Dodgers, culminating with the World Series win in 1981 over the hated Yankees. Davey, we will miss you for sure.<\/p>\n

Dave Ring
Manhattan Beach<\/p>\n

Davey Lopes was the heartbeat of those great Dodgers teams \u2014 grit, intelligence, and pure excitement every time he reached base. For fans who grew up watching that legendary infield, his passing feels deeply personal, but his legacy will endure.<\/p>\n

Steven Ross
Carmel<\/p>\n

Championing fans<\/p>\n

I had the privilege of attending Major League Baseball ownership meetings for a decade. Arte Moreno<\/a> and his then team president, John Carpino, were the absolute leaders in advocating that MLB needed to be as financially fan friendly as possible. In my opinion, the Angels fully back their desire to have a sustainable and comfortable fan experience by offering a wonderful game-day fan experience. <\/p>\n

When I am able to attend an Angels game, I do not hear gripes about parking costs, concession prices or ticket prices. The stadium staff at every level are simply wonderful and always so welcoming. And while I have no stats, the number of families and children in attendance appear significant. <\/p>\n

Should the team ever come under different ownership, I hear that one of the under tapped values of owning the Angels is the ability to increase ticket and related revenues. The proven focus on having a sustainable fan game experience is the sole dictate of the owner. <\/p>\n

Lew Wolff
Los Angeles<\/p>\n

Sticker shock<\/p>\n

After taking the time to sign up for LA28 with the hopes of getting an opportunity to purchase tickets for the Olympics<\/a>, including tickets to the opening ceremony, I was gravely disappointed after receiving a time slot for purchases to learn that opening ceremony tickets were \u201ccurrently unavailable.\u201c In further checking for other opportunities to purchase reasonably priced tickets, I also was disappointed to see that the cheapest tickets available for some of the high-interest sporting events were in the hundreds of dollars. It doesn\u2019t look like the plan to have locals purchase tickets and fill the seats for the venues is going to work out the way LA28 thought it would. Shame on them.<\/p>\n

Ruthanne Rozenek
Los Angeles<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Times welcomes expressions of all views. Letters should be brief and become the property of The Times. They may be edited and republished in any format. Each must include a valid mailing address and telephone number. Pseudonyms will not be used.<\/p>\n

Email: sports@latimes.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four years ago, at the McDonald\u2019s All-American game, future Bruins Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez stood side by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1426,114017,115451,426,9831,42838,115452,48,52,51,1838,47,50,49,40391,427,211,1092,25859,115453,72],"class_list":{"0":"post-263003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-angels","9":"tag-davey-lopes","10":"tag-dodger-infield","11":"tag-dodgers","12":"tag-first-time","13":"tag-gabriela-jaquez","14":"tag-huge-fan","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-la-headlines","17":"tag-la-news","18":"tag-letter","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","21":"tag-los-angeles-news","22":"tag-russell","23":"tag-team","24":"tag-ticket","25":"tag-ucla","26":"tag-ucla-woman","27":"tag-world-series-team","28":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}