The last time Bruins saw a No. 10 UCLA women’s basketball championship banner lifted into the rafters was in 1978, when Ann Meyers Drysdale and Denise Curry led the program to the AIAW Championship.

Now, 48 years and their first NCAA Championship later, the Bruins will watch another banner go up.

“You never accomplish a national championship alone,” said coach Cori Close. “I always say there’s so many people that have been holding the ladder, and that ladder that we got to climb to cut off the pieces of the net, we did not do that alone. There’s a lot of people in our village that made it happen, and this is a chance to say thank you.”

The banner ceremony will be taking place before UCLA (3-0) faces Princeton (5-0) on Sunday. The celebration will occur at 2:30 p.m., while the game tips off at 3 p.m. In addition to the five returners that are still on UCLA’s roster, three since-departed members – guards Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez as well as center Lauren Betts – will return to Pauley Pavilion for the celebration.

Sophomore forward Sienna Betts, the returner who saw the most time on the floor last season, currently leads the squad in points, averaging 14.3 along with seven rebounds, a mark that sits second behind senior forward Addy Brown’s 7.3. Betts is entering the matchup following a double-double against Arizona on Thursday, where she had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

“It’s going to be so fun just to see those girls again, see all of our families come back and celebrate,” Sienna Betts said. “I’m just super excited to see that in Pauley. That’s going to be really, really cool.”

Fifth-year forward Timea Gardiner – who redshirted with the Bruins last season due to injury – has also been hitting her stride for the squad. Gardiner is averaging 11.3 points and 5.3 rebounds after a 16-point performance in the victory over the Wildcats, when she knocked down two 3-pointers.

With junior guard Elina Aarnisalo still competing internationally in the 2027 EuroBasket Qualifiers for Finland’s senior national team, other Bruin guards will be expected to continue stepping up.

Against Arizona, senior guard Donovyn Hunter had seven points and four assists with just one turnover. The Bruins had eight turnovers against the Wildcats after averaging 16 as a team through the first two matchups.

Freshman guard Somto Okafor received her first collegiate start against Arizona on Thursday, scoring 10 points and recording five rebounds. The Barcelona local sits second on the squad in steals per game, averaging 2.7.

After four years at Notre Dame, fifth-year guard KK Bransford is fitting right in at UCLA. Bransford is averaging 11 points, three rebounds and a team-leading three steals per contest through three games.

But the Tigers could prove to be a difficult opponent.

Guard/forward Fadima Tall has been particularly dominant, averaging 22.6 points and 10.6 rebounds per game on a 52.8% clip from the field. Tall has also shot 9-for-21 from behind the arc.

Princeton has also remained undefeated through five games, and it is not a team that is unfamiliar to Pauley Pavilion. The Tigers played the first round of the NCAA tournament in Westwood, falling to Oklahoma State.

Although the Tigers lost, their time in Westwood could come in handy in a game that is expected to be full of Bruin fans.

With the celebration before the game, the Bruins will have to find balance between looking at the past while focusing on the season in front of them.

“It’s great to honor, to recognize what we did last year but also understand that there is a game that has to be played that day, and we’re super focused on doing what we can and executing the steps,” Gardiner said.