UCLA Women's Basketball: New All-Pac-12 Bruins Forward Earmarked As Top 10 Transfer

And she's not the only highly-regarded transfer among Cori Close's fresh crop...

Jan 19, 2024; Boulder, Colorado, USA; UCLA Bruins center Lauren Betts, guards Camryn Brown and Charisma Osborne. / Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Following a good-but-not-great 27-7 season that ended in a Sweet Sixteen exit, the UCLA Bruins are revamping their cast around returning stars Kiki Rice and Lauren Betts, two All-Pac-12 rising juniors.

Head coach Cori Close is bringing in a new backcourt mate for Rice, with Charisma Osborne having used up her collegiate eligibility (she was drafted — and subsequently cut — by the Phoenix Mercury last month, and is currently a WNBA free agent): senior ex-Washington State Cougars guard Charlisse Leger-Walker, who's seen as a top transfer on the market this year.

In fact, Charlie Creme of ESPN considers Leger-Walker the fourth-best transfer changing teams in the offseason.

But Close didn't stop there, adding former Oregon State Beavers forward Timea Gardiner, who like Rice and Betts is a rising junior. Creme considers the 6-foot-3 Gardiner this year's sixth-best transfer.

"In Gardiner, Scott Rueck also has to say goodbye to the highest-rated high school player he ever brought to Corvallis," Creme writes. "A McDonald's All American out of Utah, Gardiner only played 15 games as a freshman because of injuries, but she had a breakout sophomore season, winning the Pac-12's sixth player of the year. A good shooter (39.5% on 3-pointers) with size, Gardiner has two years of eligibility remaining."

An All-Pac-12 honoree in 2023-24, Gardiner averaged 11.6 points on .445/.395/.885 shooting splits, seven rebounds and 1.4 dimes per bout during her sophomore season. She'll fit in nicely as a stretch four for a Bruins club angling to advance beyond the Sweet Sixteen in 2025.

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