During the UCLA Bruins NCAA championship season, freshman forward Sienna Betts had to take a backseat. While her older sister, Lauren Betts, was championed as the team’s marquee star, Sienna waited on the sidelines.
Not only did the younger Betts get off to a late start to her season, not appearing in a game with UCLA until December, she never got a huge role. As a freshman, Betts played only 14.1 minutes and scored 6.0 per game.
Advertisement
Being buried behind her sister, Angela Dugalic and Gabriela Jaquez, there weren’t many minutes for Sienna to snag. UCLA opened up their 2026-2027 season with an exhibition match on Wednesday and it appears that Sienna Betts is ready to become a star.
Betts scored 20 points with 12 rebounds and two blocks despite facing off against the Canadian National Team. Those stats were far from empty, as she kept UCLA in the game until the fourth quarter when Team Canada began to break away.
Even with the strong performance, Betts wasn’t completely satisfied with her game.
“I can tend to be kind of a perfectionist,” Betts said postgame. “So I’m still thinking of the stuff later on, when I got fatigued and started taking poor shots and maybe not making the right decision on offense and defense. I’m thinking about those little things but it was just really fun to go out there and play with the group.”
Advertisement
The 6’4” sophomore forward did it all for UCLA, providing rim protection, an option in the low post and even showed some versatility by bringing the ball up the court. If this is Betts to begin her sophomore season, then the sky is the limit for her potential in Westwood.
“I thought Sienna was absolutely great,” UCLA head coach Cori Close said. “I was really proud because she did the work all day to get herself mentally ready.”
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA’s Sienna Betts season got off to a very strong start on Wednesday
