As she spoke about her team’s growth amid its first conference trip, Cori Close steered her comments toward something else she would like to nurture: coverage of women’s college basketball.
It was a topic that the UCLA coach had thrust into the national spotlight three days earlier when she voiced her frustration with a lack of reporting on a top-20 showdown involving her No. 4 Bruins and No. 19 Ohio State.
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Now, after her team’s runaway 97-61 victory over Penn State on Wednesday inside Rec Hall, Close glanced at the 10 reporters on a Zoom call and doubled down on her previous remarks.
“The reality of what my comments were after Ohio State were, I have two really passionate agendas in regards to this, and that is, I want to be a pioneer of growing the game, period,” Close said. “I want to really be a part of the surge that’s happening and I want to be a part of telling these amazing stories that these players have, and they’re incredible young women as well as amazing basketball players.”
Read more: Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice power No. 4 UCLA to win over No. 19 Ohio State
Her team had made her point over the previous two hours, walloping the Nittany Lions on the way to a seventh straight victory.
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UCLA center Lauren Betts was unstoppable with 25 points and seven rebounds, dominating with power moves around the basket and an emerging array of midrange jumpers. Shooting guard Gianna Kneepkens was a two-way force with 17 points on five-for-seven shooting from long range to go with three steals. Point guard Charlisse Leger-Walker was a study in precision passing with eight assists and no turnovers.
The outcome was never in doubt as the Bruins (13-1 overall, 3-0 Big Ten) built a 23-point halftime lead over the Nittany Lions (7-7, 0-3) and then got some additional help from freshman forward Sienna Betts, who scored all 10 of her points in the second half after a pep talk from her sister.
“First half, she was feeling, you know, not as confident,” Lauren Betts said. “She’s like, ‘I just feel like I don’t know how to play basketball.’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, you do. You’ve been playing for 19 years. You got it, like, you’re fine.’ ”
Big sister was right. Among her impressive moves, Sienna followed an offensive rebound with a step-back fadeaway jumper, drove the baseline for a layup and also took a pass over the top of the defense for a layup.
UCLA star Lauren Betts shoots over Penn State’s Gracie Merkle during the Bruins’ win on Wednesday. (Greg Fiume / Getty Images)
Another pleasing development came after the game, when the media contingent dwarfed the one from three days earlier.
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According to a UCLA team spokesperson, the Ohio State game represented the first time this season that no media member spoke with Close in person afterward. The number of reporters was smaller than usual that day given that some who usually cover Ohio State were en route to Dallas to cover the Buckeyes football team in the Cotton Bowl and others were assigned to NFL games.
A reporter with the Southern California News Group spoke with Close over the phone, allowing her to voice her disappointment in the lack of coverage.
“Honestly, if I’m being really blunt with you, the energy in the building was great, but having no media here at all from either team or either — no AP, no nothing, doesn’t say a lot,” Close said. “We’re the only double-ranked game out today, the only one in the country, and we had no media today, no media here. You’re the only one that’s asked to talk to me, and credit to you, but I don’t mind if you print that either. Like, for the only game that had two ranked opponents to not have more coverage over this particular game — disappointing, honestly.”
Typically, the team spokesperson said, Close and players have been available in an interview room after road and neutral-site games, with a reporter from the Associated Press and the opposing team present to ask questions. The Times travels to provide coverage of every UCLA men’s basketball game but has traditionally covered the women’s team on the road only during the conference tournament and the NCAA tournament.
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Close alluded to that discrepancy in further comments to Front Office Sports on Tuesday.
“We’re the No. 4 team in the country,” Close said, “so I’m not just talking about people in the building, I’m talking about our publications back home and anyone who wants to tell the story of our game, when I know some of these outlets cover every men’s road game in person, you know? I’m just asking for proportionate growth in coverage with the growth of our game, and I am happy to support non-traditional media that wants to tell the stories of our players in appropriate ways.”
On Wednesday, Close said her remarks didn’t intend to diminish coverage of men’s basketball, only to give the women the exposure they deserved. Asked for solutions to increase coverage in a shrinking media landscape with fewer reporters and resources for traveling, Close suggested more postgame Zooms for outlets that couldn’t travel and increased access for non-traditional media.
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As an example of the importance of sharing her players’ stories, Close relayed that a girl at the game Wednesday told Lauren Betts that her having previously shared her mental health journey through feature stories saved the girl’s life, filling Betts’ eyes with joyful tears in the locker room.
“Lauren was so deeply affected by that,” Close said, “and I’m so thankful that Lauren had the courage to tell her story and I’m so thankful that people in the media came alongside to help her tell that story — and that’s obviously an extreme example on that, but it’s important culturally, not just in the sports world of things and that’s just a real-time example about why the storytelling of these amazing women is so important.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
