This post was updated March 5 at 10:10 p.m.

A 14-game winning streak and their highest ranking in program history boosted the Bruins for over two months.

Then their first loss of the season began an oscillating mid-season stretch, dropping them out of the No. 2 spot in the nation and dirtying a squeaky clean 2023-2024 record.

But for coach Cori Close, it was just what her team needed ahead of its most challenging postseason yet.

“All of the adversity we went through on multiple levels – if we’re willing to do the hard work to use that adversity wisely, I really think we could look back and go, ‘Maybe that bought us a ticket to a place we wouldn’t have been able to go otherwise,’” Close said.

No. 3 seed UCLA women’s basketball (24-5, 13-5 Pac-12) will travel to Las Vegas for its final Pac-12 tournament after earning a first-round bye for the first time in three years. UCLA will face the winner of No. 6 seed Utah (21-9, 11-7) and No. 11 seed Arizona State (11-19, 3-15) on Thursday night.

The Bruins clinched the third seed after sweeping the Arizona schools on the road, but earning a bye wasn’t just a product of two late-season wins.

It was a transition from a rollercoaster run – losing five of 10 games to a five-game winning streak at the end of the regular season to emulate how the team started back in November.

Sophomore center Lauren Betts – who missed four games in the middle of the season for an undisclosed reason – said the ups and downs helped her team get to where it is ahead of the tournament.

“We’re all just really excited and really confident, and I think we’ve all just obviously been looking really good lately,” Betts said. “I’m really proud of how we’ve overcome things this season. It’s all ultimately brought us way closer than we ever thought.”

This year’s tournament will be Betts’ first as a starter after transferring from Stanford last April, where she played just 18 minutes across two games of the 2023 Pac-12 tournament.

The Bruins took down the Sun Devils – the 11th-ranked team in the conference – twice during regular-season play, once at home and once on the road. In both matchups, Betts notched double-digit points and at least seven rebounds as she stood three inches taller than Arizona State’s tallest big.

Four other Bruins, including sophomore guard Londynn Jones – who now holds the program record for most made 3-pointers in one season – also had double-digit points against the Sun Devils at least once. UCLA defeated Arizona State by at least 29 points in both matchups.

If the Sun Devils outlast the Utes in the first round on Wednesday, the Bruins’ quarterfinal contest might look similar as they also hold a 15-game all-time advantage against the former.

But if Utah comes out on top, past contests tell a different story.

The Bruins split their conference games against the Utes, falling in a 94-81 overtime thriller Jan. 22 in Salt Lake City, then taking down their opponents in a 30-point blowout exactly one month later.

But the uncertainty of UCLA’s first matchup is not unique.

“I am a champion for the Pac-12 because the numbers don’t lie,” Close said. “It’s been clearly the deepest and best conference in the country this year.”

At last year’s tournament, seven of the 11 games played were won by lower-seeded teams. This year, six of the teams in the Pac-12 are currently ranked in the AP Top 25.

The winner of the longstanding Conference of Champions’ final tournament remains in question, but Close is confident in the ability of her team to come out on top.

“We’re just now hitting our stride to play our best basketball, and the best is yet to come,” Close said.