Sienna Betts’ collegiate dreams were initially devastated when her older sister, Lauren Betts, announced her transfer from Stanford to UCLA.

“It was a complete nightmare for me if I’m being honest,” the incoming freshman forward said. “I knew the minute she entered the transfer portal she would go to UCLA.”

The incoming sister duo will play alongside each other for UCLA women’s basketball’s 2025-2026 season before Lauren is expected to enter the WNBA Draft.

While the lights look bright and the expectations are high for the upcoming season, following the squad’s historic No. 1 overall seed and first Final Four berth in the NCAA era, the road to UCLA wasn’t a straight one for either sister.

The soon-to-be senior center originally committed to Stanford after graduating from Grandview High School in Aurora, Colorado, where she was a five-star recruit, a McDonald’s All-American and a two-time Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year.

Despite these accolades, the top-ranked recruit in the 2022 class saw little playing time with the Cardinal, even after averaging 17.2 points per game during her senior year of high school.

In her 33 games at Stanford, Lauren averaged just 9.7 minutes and never started, despite her team-high 60.2% field goal percentage, which marked the fifth-best single-season shooting percentage in school history.

“I knew at some point that that wasn’t the right place for me, and I think that my family definitely helped me come to that final decision,” Lauren said. “I always talked to Sienna along the way too, and she knew that I wasn’t happy. My family knew that I wasn’t happy. I think it was just, ultimately, the best thing for me to do because I wanted to make the most out of my college experience.”

After her freshman season, Lauren entered the transfer portal and committed to UCLA, where she came into Westwood as a much-needed center for the squad, averaging 14.9 and 20.2 points in her sophomore and junior seasons, respectively.

While her junior year status made her eligible for the WNBA Draft in April, Lauren opted to remain at UCLA for her fourth year.

Unlike men’s basketball, it’s not uncommon in women’s basketball for players to stay through their senior year. And the opportunity to be part of one of the strongest sister duos in collegiate sport only sweetened the deal.

“I always wanted to take advantage of my fourth year because I wanted to get my degree,” Lauren said. “And just be able to take full advantage of college athletics, and … all the opportunities that’ve been given to me. And, obviously, I think Sienna coming was just the cherry on top.”

Sienna always had her eyes on UCLA, even when her sister didn’t initially commit to the squad. Although, when Lauren transferred to the Bruins, that dream tettered.

It took convincing on all ends for the younger sister to commit to UCLA in fear that she would be in the shadow of her older, 6-foot-7 sister.

“It was a dream school of mine, and Stanford actually was too,” Sienna said. “It was pretty devastating, because I’ve been dealing with the whole younger sister thing my whole life, so it was kind of like I was forced back into that.”

But standing in someone’s shadow is hard to do at 6-foot-4, especially when you aren’t competing for the same starting position. While Lauren is reaching up for rebounds and layups in the paint, Sienna is taking jump shots and putting up 3-pointers – which Lauren has admitted Sienna is better at – as a power forward.

Despite being two of the tallest players on next year’s team, the sisters won’t compete for the same spot on the court. With the outgoing transfers of junior forward Janiah Barker and the entirety of last season’s freshman class, UCLA has seemingly made space for Sienna, the No. 2 ranked recruit from the class of 2025, at the four spot.

“With her being a forward and I’m a center, we already are going to have to play well together,” Lauren said. “But I think on top of that, we just know what we both like to do on the floor so well. And, obviously, I know her skills and she knows mine.”

Sienna said that growing up and accomplishing different goals to earn her own name helped increase her confidence as a player and as a person.

Throughout the commitment process, the people around her emphasized her individuality.

“Lauren, she envisioned a future for us and how she was able to help me out … because she understands that it was kind of a rough decision for me because I didn’t want to be in that younger sister shadow again,” Sienna said.

Cori Close and the rest of the Bruins’ coaching staff made it clear that Sienna’s recruitment to UCLA was grounded in her own merit.

“The coaches are really important as well because they emphasized the fact that they recognize me as my own person, and they aren’t trying to bring me here as a younger sister,” Sienna said. “They truly value Sienna for Sienna, not as Lauren’s sister.”

Although the sisters initially didn’t imagine themselves playing together at the collegiate level, their mother always did.

And not only did Michelle Betts’ dream come true, but now, Sienna will don her mom’s jersey number, 16, from Michelle’s time playing collegiate volleyball for Long Beach State. Lauren reps 51, the same number her father wore in the NBA while playing with the Charlotte Hornets.

“It was a dream of mine to see my kids at the same school in the same uniform together,” Michelle said. “Once I saw the girls compete in high school, that got stronger for me because they were so good together.”