This post was updated Nov. 7 at 12:34 a.m.

When the Bruins opened the season with a 77-53 victory against 35.5-point underdogs San Diego State, coach Cori Close made it clear that she was not satisfied. 

“That is not the standard in which we have set for ourselves,” Close said after the matchup Monday.

And when it seemed like her squad was going to answer with at least a 90-point appearance in its home opener, scoring just two points in the last four minutes of the game flatlined the Bruins’ otherwise dominant performance. 

Three players logged 20-plus points en route to No. 3 UCLA women’s basketball’s (2-0) 87-50 win against UC Santa Barbara (1-1) on Thursday at Pauley Pavilion.

“Everybody wants to have a 20-point game every night because there are so many of them that are capable,” Close said. “But to have the humility and the selflessness to go, ‘Man, Gianna is really hot. Gabs is really hot. Let’s go.’ … It does show the depth of this team and the capabilities, but it wouldn’t be showing if there wasn’t also selflessness.”

Despite a small number of students and season ticket holders being present for the 11:30 a.m. tip-off, elementary and middle school students filled the wings of Pauley Pavilion for field trip day. High-pitched screeches filled the air after each basket even if it was a far-cry from the raucous crowd at UCLA’s last home game against USC last March.

And the loudest screams might have been for Jaquez’s opening basket, putting the Bruins on the board first with a lay-up in the first minute.

Jaquez posted a double-double Monday night – just the fifth of her career – and knocked down a team-high 21 points while going 7-for-11 from the field and 4-for-7 from beyond the arc to follow up that performance Thursday.

“Every offseason, my 3-point shooting has been a huge emphasis for me, and every year it’s gotten better,” Jaquez said. “Again, stacking the day, stacking the years – because I didn’t come in as a great shooter, I had to fix a lot of things in my shot – fixing it and repping it has made it better.”

But it wasn’t just Jaquez who proved dominant on the perimeter.  

Graduate student Gianna Kneepkens notched four 3-pointers on a 50% clip. Kneepkens, who transferred from Utah in the offseason, maintained a 44.8% 3-point shooting percentage last season, which ranked seventh in the nation.

“It makes it almost a little bit easier when you’re surrounded by just great players everywhere,” Kneepkens said. “Reading the defense, they find you and you’re open. So I think just figuring out when the team needs me, where, has been kind of an adjustment I’ve made.”

Despite a 6-0 run from UCLA to open the game, UC Santa Barbara pulled even eight minutes into the first quarter. The Bruins similarly struggled to maintain first-quarter focus in their season opener, closing the first quarter against San Diego State with just a 12-9 advantage after boasting an 8-0 run to start the game.

Senior guard Kiki Rice, who returned to the starting lineup Thursday after coming off the bench against San Diego State, went on a six-point scoring tear to lengthen the Bruins’ lead to 19-13. Rice scored 20 points, led the team with eight rebounds and drained all seven of her free throw attempts.

Lauren Betts – who led the team in scoring last game – shot a mid-range jumper to open the second half to double UCLA’s score compared to UCSB’s tally. 

“Lauren’s getting double-teamed, triple-teamed down there, and that’s why she had six assists,” Jaquez said. “She’s making really good passes out to the guards.”

But apart from Kneepkens and Jaquez’s efficient long-range production – which contributed to the team’s 33.3% clip from beyond the arc – UCLA struggled to find offensive efficiency in the paint and scored just 13 points in the fourth quarter. 

Although plateauing in scoring to end the game, the Bruins continued to crash the glass and ended the matchup with 43 rebounds to the Gauchos’ 24. 

UCLA heads into its first ranked matchup of the season against No. 6 Oklahoma next Monday after handing out back-to-back 20-plus point defeats to open the 2025-26 campaign.  

“We’re ready to do the little things,” Jaquez said. “Not necessarily play pretty like Coach Cori mentioned to us, … and it really starts on the defensive end, and so super excited that we do get to play really top teams early on because it’s a great test and we’ll learn from it.”