Gabriela Jaquez looked to make history last summer in seeking to help Mexico, the country of her heritage, qualify for the 2026 FIBA World Cup. That remains a work in progress, so for the moment her focus has shifted to a different kind of history with UCLA as the program enjoys its first Final Four run at the women’s NCAA tournament.
The Bruins face a daunting task against 11-time national champion UConn (9:30 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN) in Tampa, Florida, but Jaquez is keen on maintaining a sense of balance as she and her teammates take in the experience.
“[We’re] just super grateful for these opportunities,” Jaquez told ESPN, “and at the same time, we are not done yet. We have more games to play, more teams to compete with.”
Jaquez scored a game-high 18 points in the Bruins’ Elite Eight win over LSU and, along with Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice, has propelled UCLA into a record-breaking season. The top-ranked Bruins (34-2) started the 2024-25 campaign with 23 consecutive victories and avenged their two losses to crosstown rival USC with a victory in the Big Ten title game last month.
Their March Madness run includes wins over Southern, Richmond, Ole Miss and LSU, but Friday’s game against UConn looms as the biggest test of all.
“We’ve definitely had some big challenges throughout the season, playing South Carolina, playing USC three times,” Jaquez said. “We’ve played so many good teams. I think in the Big Ten, there’s so much great competition and it definitely prepares you for the tournament. But [I’m] really excited for more opportunities to play against really good players, really good teams that are very well coached.”
The UCLA women won an AIAW title in 1978, and the 2014-15 team conquered the WNIT. However, this is the first time in 51 years that the Bruins have been this close to reaching the NCAA mountaintop. The 34 wins are the most in program history. Meanwhile, Betts was named the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and Cori Close took home Coach of the Year honors.
For Jaquez’s part, the excitement from her time this summer on the Mexican national team has powered her during the historic quest in front of her with UCLA.
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Gabriela Jaquez, UCLA focusing on continuing historic season
UCLA’s Gabriela Jaquez details the significance of being part of the program’s first team to make the Final Four.
“I think playing for Team Mexico over the summer was just such an amazing opportunity,” the 21-year-old Southern California native said. “The way that my teammates and coaches just welcomed me with open arms right away really meant a lot. And to see the support and hear the support from all the people that came to watch me in Mexico City, it truly meant everything.”
Jaquez’s older brother Jaime, also a UCLA product, is a key part of the rotation with the NBA’s Miami Heat, but the two make up just a small part of the family business. The Jaquezes’ basketball glory goes back two generations.
The siblings’ grandfather Ezequiel, the son of Mexican immigrants, played basketball at Ventura College and Northern Arizona. Their father, Jaime Sr., played at California’s Concordia University, where he met his future wife, the former Angela Sather — a basketball star in her own right. While at Concordia, Angela scored 21.4 points per game, a school record at the time, during the 1997 season. She was named Golden State Athletic Conference Player of the Year and, in 2008, inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.
“My mom was a great basketball player. She got a tryout for the inaugural season of the WNBA, actually,” Jaquez said. “It’s funny because when her old teammates come to watch me play, they say I play so much like my mom and they can see my mom in me, you know, on the court, which I just can kind of giggle at because I never really got to see my mom play basketball.”
Should Jaquez make a WNBA roster after college, she and Jaime would become just the seventh sister-brother duo to play in that league and in the NBA — and they would certainly be the first siblings of Mexican heritage to accomplish the feat. This summer, Gabriela plans to continue her journey with the Mexican national team and attempt to qualify to the World Cup at the AmeriCup in Santiago, Chile.
For now, Jaquez continues to focus on the history at hand. However, UCLA must first get past UConn before Los Angeles starts planning a parade. To do so, poise must also be part of the focus.
“I definitely try to be calm,” Jaquez said. “That’s when I’m at my best. Not too high. Definitely not too low. We call it [being] neutral throughout the whole game. If I just hit a 3-pointer and the other coach calls a timeout, we’re all hyped up. So, we reset, get calm again, and then go out and play.
“Because, you know, the next team is going to go on a run. That’s just basketball at the end of the day.”
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