As Gabriela Jaquez moved to Final Four

Gabriela Jaquez He looked at history last summer and tried to help Mexico, the land of her heritage, qualify for the World Cup Fiba 2026. This remains an unfinished work, so its focus has moved to another type of history with UCLA, because the program enjoys its first finals with four running at the women’s NCAA tournament.

Bruins faces a daunting task against the eleven -fold national champion Uconn (21:30 et Friday at ESPN) in Tampa, Florida, but Jaquez wants to keep his sense when she and her teammates have this experience.

“(We are) only very grateful for these occasions,” said Jaquez EsPN, “and we are not doing yet. We have to play more games, more teams we can compete with.”

Jaquez scored the game of 18 points in Bruins’s elite eight victories over LSU and together with Lauren Betts and Kiki riceHe powered UCLA into the record season. The best rated Bruins (34-2) launched a 2024-25 campaign with 23 consecutive victories and avenge their two losses to Crosstown’s USC opponent with the Big title game last month.

Their running March Madness includes victory over Southern, Richmond, Ole Miss and LSU, but Friday’s game against Uconn Tkalcovská as the biggest test of all.

“We certainly had some big challenges throughout the season, playing South Carolina and playing USC three times,” Jaquez said. “We played so many good teams. I think there is so much great competition in the big ten and definitely preparing 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 trained.”

The UCLA Women won the title AIAW in 1978 and the 2014-15 team conquered. But it is the first time in 51 years when Bruins were so close to reaching NCAA. 34 Victory is most in the history of the program. Meanwhile, Betts was appointed a defensive player of the year NaismMith of the year and Cori Close took the home coach of the year’s honors.

From Jaquez’s part of the excitement from the time this summer on the Mexican national team, it was driven during the historical task.

“I think the playing of the Mexico team was just such an amazing opportunity during the summer,” said a 21 -year -old native of South California. “The way my teammates and coaches immediately welcomed me with open arms, really meant a lot. And seeing support and hear the support of all the people who came to watch me in Mexico City, that really meant everything.”

Jaquez’s older brother JaimeAlso the UCLA product is a key part of the NBA rotation Miami HeatBut they both form only a small part of the family business. Jaquezes’ basketball glory returns two generations.

The grandfather of the ezequiel siblings, the son of Mexican immigrants, played basketball on Ventura College and North Arizona. Their father, Jaime Sr., played at the University of California, Concordia University, where he met his future wife, former Angela Sather – a basketball star in himself. While Angela scored 21.4 points for the game during the 1997 season, the school record at that time. The Golden State Athletic Conference Player of the Year was named and in 2008 it was introduced to the School Hall of Fame.

“My mom was a great basketball player. She actually got a test for the WNBA inauguration season,” Jaquez said. “It’s funny, because when her old teammates come to watch me when they play me, they say I play as much as my mom and they see my mom in me, you know, on a pitch that I can just sniff because I never saw my mom playing basketball.”

If Jaquez created a list of WNBA after college, she and Jaime would become only the seventh duo of the sister brother to play in this league and in NBA-A would certainly be the first siblings of Mexican heritage to achieve this performance. This summer, Gabriela plans to continue his journey with the Mexican national team and try to qualify for the World Championship in America in Santiago, Chile.

For the time being, Jaquez continues to focus on the history. However, UCLA must first go through Uconn before Los Angeles begins to plan the show. For this purpose, it must also be part of the focus.

“I’m definitely trying to be calm,” Jaquez said. “That’s when I’m at the best. Not too high. Certainly not too low. We call it (be) neutral in the whole game. If I just hit 3-poiner and the second coach calls the time limit, we are all media.

“Because, you know, another team is going to run. That’s just basketball at the end of the day.”