In her 13 seasons at the Bruins’ helm, coach Cori Close has advanced to the Elite Eight once.

After winning the first two rounds by a combined 55 points, No. 1 seed UCLA women’s basketball (32-2, 16-2 Big Ten) will have the opportunity to reach that mark once again with a victory in its Sweet 16 matchup against No. 5 seed Mississippi (22-10, 10-6 SEC) on Friday in Spokane, Washington. UCLA has fallen short in the Sweet 16 each of the past two seasons to South Carolina and LSU, respectively.

“You get to certain points of excellence,” Close said. “Being Sweet 16 and higher is really how you’re judged if you want to be an elite basketball program.”

Prior to its battle with Ole Miss, UCLA defeated Southern and Richmond – two programs representing the less-renowned Southwestern Atlantic Conference and Atlantic 10 conferences.

The Rebels will be the Bruins’ first test from a fellow Power Five conference – as they are one of six SEC programs remaining in March Madness and were one of eight represented in the final AP poll.

While this will be UCLA’s first matchup against Mississippi in its history, it will be its first matchup against former Bruin forward Christeen Iwuala, who transferred after last season.

“We have actually watched Ole Miss a lot,” Close said. “Christeen Iwuala is on their team and we love her. She used to be a Bruin but we are Wall-E (Iwuala) fans and we just think she’s spectacular.”

Iwuala has elevated her game since transferring to Ole Miss from UCLA this past season. The forward’s points per game tally nearly doubled from 3.7 to 6.8 with her average rebounds, blocks and steals all increasing as well.

Ole Miss was the third best defensive team in the SEC this season, holding its opponents to just 59 points per game.

“They are one of the best defensive teams in the country,” Close said. “They’re extremely physical. It’s going to be a grind-it-out kind of game and we have a lot of respect for how they defend.”

However, UCLA’s 6-foot-7 All-American Lauren Betts may pose a serious challenge to a Rebel squad which doesn’t feature a player taller than Iwuala, who stands at 6-foot-3.

The junior center is coming off a dominant game against Richmond where she scored 30 points on 14-for-17 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds – including nine on the offensive glass – to help lead UCLA to a comfortable 17-point win in a contest that was still tied at halftime.

“It started with taking good shots offensively,” Betts said. “When we force really tough shots that’s when we don’t get into the right position to create those offensive rebounds.”

To get the ball to her, UCLA will need to avoid turnovers, as Ole Miss has forced over 20 turnovers per game this season – 19th best in the nation.

The Bruins committed just five turnovers against the Spiders, a tally attributed to arduous preparation according to junior guard Kiki Rice.

“We haven’t been happy with the amount of turnovers that we’ve had,” Rice said. “As guards, that’s on us to find the right people and put everyone in good positions.”

The winner of the contest will take on either No. 3 seed LSU or No. 2 seed North Carolina State in the Elite Eight on Sunday.

“We’ve been preparing all the way,” Close said. “We’ve charted this out of what it looks like. We’ll be ready.”