UCLA’s Betts on watch list

 Senior Lauren Betts headlines the 15-candidate “Wade Watch” list for the 2026 Wade Trophy, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced Wednesday.

The Wade Trophy is presented to the best player in college women’s basketball annually.

Betts – a 2024-25 Associated Press (AP) and WBCA first-team All-American – was named to the AP preseason All-America team on Oct. 21. An anchor for UCLA’s defensive efforts, the Bruin center earned herself unanimous Defensive Player of the Year as voted by Big Ten coaches in 2024-25.

She was the first Bruin with 600+ points, 300+ rebounds, 100+ blocks in a season when her junior campaign completed; Betts also set a new single-season blocks record with her 100 rejections last year and captured the UCLA single-game blocks record with nine against No. 25 Baylor at the Coretta Scott King Classic.

The team’s leading scorer (20.2 PPG) marked a new career-high with 33 points at No. 8 Maryland, one of four games in which she scored 30+ points. She swept the national Defensive Player of the Year awards (AP, Naismith, WBCA) and was the first UCLA women’s basketball player to earn AP First Team All-America honors.

The Wade Trophy — now in its 49th year — is the oldest and most prestigious national player of the year award in college women’s basketball. It is named in honor of the late, legendary Delta State University head coach Lily Margaret Wade, who won three consecutive national championships with the Lady Statesmen.

First awarded in 1978 by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD), now known as SHAPE America, the Wade Trophy has been presented to the WBCA NCAA Division I Player of the Year since 2001.

The Wade Watch list of candidates for the Wade Trophy is composed of players selected by the WBCA NCAA Division I Awards Committee. The committee will review the list midseason to determine if additional players will be added based on their play during the first half of the 2025-26 season.

The winner of the award will be announced in April during the 2025 WBCA Convention in Phoenix — site of the 2026 NCAA Women’s Final Four.