PHOENIX — Gabriela Jaquez, tone-setter. Culture-setter. Scene-setter.
Firestarter.
Elite job-finisher — around the rim and in life.
UCLA’s first NCAA women’s basketball championship win was more coronation than ballgame, a 79-51 blowout of monumental proportions against perennial power South Carolina.
Fittingly, it starred one of the members of the Bruins’ royal family: a Jaquez hooper stealing her opponents’ souls from the outset.
UCLA’s Gabriela Jaquez drives ahead of South Carolina’s Tessa Johnson (5) during the first half of the NCAA championship game Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
All Gabs, no brakes. Going downhill. Smirking gamely all the while.
“Relentless,” Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley said. “Relentless.”
Definitely one of those “uncommon, courageous women” that UCLA coach Cori Close sought to play in her program.
“Living her dream,” said former UCLA star Jaime Jaquez Jr., whom Bruins fans might be thinking of now as “Gabriela’s brother” instead of the other way around.
Jaime led the UCLA men to the Final Four in 2021 and has gone on to make his name in the NBA as a contributor on the Miami Heat, including scoring 32 points against the Washington Wizards on Saturday as a prelude to Gabriela’s big game — which he flew to witness in person, to Gabriela’s great delight.
“Of course I have bragging rights,” she said in a singsong tone after the game. “I’m a champion.”
That’s largely because of how high Jaquez was able to crank up the heat from the jump Sunday. In her first five minutes of championship action, she had five points, four rebounds and two assists, and UCLA had a 13-4 lead that it wouldn’t think about relinquishing.
By the time she subbed out for good after her second three-pointer, UCLA had a 79-46 lead with 2:52 to play — and she exited as just the fifth female in NCAA history to have at least 20 points (she had 21), 10 rebounds and five assists in a national championship game.
UCLA’s Gabriela Jaquez celebrates after scoring while being fouled in the first quarter against South Carolina on Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
That puts her in the company of superstars Sarah Strong, Breanna Stewart, Chamique Holdsclaw and Staley, the former Virginia point guard.
Jaquez had a fan in WNBA star Caitlin Clark: “Jaquez going crazy,” she posted on X.
And the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ L.A. sports-loving bassist Flea chimed in there too: “Gotta love the Jaquez family! Go Bruins.”
That’s for their impact on the court, but how about this: In 2023, the UCLA Latino Alumni Assn. and UCLA Alumni Assn. announced the Jaquez Family Scholarship Fund, which offers financial support for freshmen and transfer students.
The truest of blue-and-gold bloods, Gabriela decided in third grade that she wanted to play for UCLA. And then “decided” with her close-knit teammates Sunday “to be national champions.”
“This was the plan and we accomplished it,” said the 6-foot guard from Camarillo, who likely will be the third player of Mexican heritage to play in the WNBA.
Jaquez joined Lauren Betts and her college roommate, Kiki Rice, on the all-tournament team — Rice and Jaquez arrived at UCLA as freshmen, intent on taking the program where it hadn’t been before.
They reached the program’s first Final Four last season. They reached — and won — the first NCAA championship game this year.
They go out on a program-record 31-game winning streak, having gone 17-0 at Pauley Pavilion in their final season. By winning their final game by the third-most points in NCAA women’s championship history, dancing in the locker room to celebrate beating, fittingly, another ’SC.
UCLA’s, from left, Charlisse Leger-Walker, Gabriela Jaquez and Lauren Betts dance on stage after the Bruins’ win in the NCAA championship game Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
“Coming in as a freshman, that was the plan — to cut down nets,” Jaquez said. “I pictured this moment many times, being a national champion; to do it with this group, it means everything…
“To finish out my career with a national championship … Really. Does. Mean. Everything.”
Also: “Job’s finished,” Jaquez said. “Job is finished.”
UCLA players celebrate after defeating South Carolina for the NCAA women’s basketball championship.
