Coming off a Final Four appearance a season ago, the UCLA Bruins are 9-1 to begin the season. The Bruins are about to get even better with Cori Close hopeful that Sienna Betts will be able to make her college debut on Tuesday against Cal Poly.
Betts was the No. 2 recruit in the entire country and will now hope to fill out the UCLA bench that has been without her and forward Timea Gardiner all season long. The Bruins bench has been fine without the two forwards, with Angela Dugalic and Lena Bilic playing well for Cori Close’s team but Betts will give the team another elite option.
In Close’s postgame interview following the win over Oregon last week, she said that Betts would be able to get some minutes against Cal Poly barring any setbacks. Close added that if she does play, it will be with a minutes restriction.
“You never know because for return to play you have to have no hitches, right? But I’m hopeful,” Close said. “My hope is that she’s going to be able to get some minutes against Cal Poly. I’m not giving you a guarantee. I’m not telling you it’s for sure going to happen, but my hope is that we’re going to be in that place.”
Not only is the news big for the Bruins as they get closer to Big Ten Conference action, it will also be a chance for Sienna and Lauren Betts to play alongside each other at the collegiate level for the first time. Both players had amazing high school careers in Colorado and now look to lead the Bruins to a Big Ten Conference title.
“I think Sienna is extremely smart. She has an incredibly high IQ. She has very good instincts and she’s incredibly competitive,” Close said of Betts. “I would expect that she’ll be really mad at me when I take her off the court because she’ll just want more and more and more. My biggest hope for her is that she’ll give herself some grace. She has such high expectations for herself, which is part of what makes her so good.”
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Will Sienna Betts make her season debut on Tuesday? It seems likely
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
