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The defending champions opened up their 2026-2027 season with a spirited exhibition against the Canadian National Team. While the UCLA Bruins didn’t come out on top, the new-look team showed plenty of promise north of the border.
Both teams were missing a few players, with Team Canada missing a couple of their WNBA players while the UCLA Bruins missed a few players of their own. Timea Gardiner did not return after missing the entire 2025-2026 season along with new transfer KK Bransford, incoming freshman Somto Okafor and Lina Jerković all missing the game on Wednesday.
Even though Gardiner and Bransford didn’t touch the court against Canada, UCLA head coach Cori Close credited both players for their leadership from the bench.
“I really give a lot of credit to Timea Gardiner and KK Bransford, who came in the locker room and I thought they were spectacular leaders,” Close said. “They just blew life into the team and said ‘Hey, we are going to be so good when we get things cleaned up, when we learn what our chemistry is like’ and we showed glimpses, we just didn’t show consistency.”
Okafor and Jerković both didn’t appear in the game, with the international players getting some extra time before being thrown into the heat of competition. UCLA went into the game with just three practices under their belt, meaning that there’s a ton of room to grow for the Bruins squad.
The main takeaway from the exhibition was that Sienna Betts looked like an absolute star, but the younger Betts sister has more help coming once the regular season rolls around.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Which UCLA Bruins missed the exhibition against Team Canada?
Continue reading...
Both teams were missing a few players, with Team Canada missing a couple of their WNBA players while the UCLA Bruins missed a few players of their own. Timea Gardiner did not return after missing the entire 2025-2026 season along with new transfer KK Bransford, incoming freshman Somto Okafor and Lina Jerković all missing the game on Wednesday.
Even though Gardiner and Bransford didn’t touch the court against Canada, UCLA head coach Cori Close credited both players for their leadership from the bench.
“I really give a lot of credit to Timea Gardiner and KK Bransford, who came in the locker room and I thought they were spectacular leaders,” Close said. “They just blew life into the team and said ‘Hey, we are going to be so good when we get things cleaned up, when we learn what our chemistry is like’ and we showed glimpses, we just didn’t show consistency.”
Okafor and Jerković both didn’t appear in the game, with the international players getting some extra time before being thrown into the heat of competition. UCLA went into the game with just three practices under their belt, meaning that there’s a ton of room to grow for the Bruins squad.
The main takeaway from the exhibition was that Sienna Betts looked like an absolute star, but the younger Betts sister has more help coming once the regular season rolls around.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Which UCLA Bruins missed the exhibition against Team Canada?
Continue reading...
