UCLA's Lady Bruins basketball off to best start in school history

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Thursday, January 16, 2020
UCLA's Lady Bruins basketball off to best start in school history
The UCLA women's basketball team is 16-0, the best start in school history.

WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- UCLA's women's basketball team is a very good team.

Heading into the third week of January the Lady Bruins are 16-0 - the last undefeated team in the nation.

But they're hoping to be an absolutely great team.

"The way you do that is you really could really care less about being undefeated," said Bruins coach Cori Close.

"It's about getting better each week," she said.

But it's not about where they sit this month. It's where they want to stand at seasons end - the Final Four.

"That's our goal," said Lindsey Corsaro, the Bruins sophmore guard. "Every day when we're preparing, Coach always says prepare with championship reps."

The Bruins are off to their best start in school history, winning by an average of 18 points a game.

"We have moments where we show we're a really great team," said freshman Charisma Osborne. "We just have to be more consistent throughout the game - all four quarters."

In the early 1990s coach Cori Close was an assistant - learning from the great John Wooden, long retired from coaching but still an active presence with the program. She has learned, embodied and embraced his teaching principals to her program.

"Coach Wooden always taught me, the final score is not reflective to the type of teacher you are," Close said.

"I want to be the best teacher for them. I want to create an uncommon transformational experience for these young woman after the ball goes flat," she said.

Corsaro added, "Every game up until the tournament comes, it's going to be a challenge and an opportunity to keep growing."

Those growing pains in this Westwood gym have come without a loss.