UCLA Women's Basketball Preparing for 2014-15 Season

Oct 7, 2014

LOS ANGELES – The UCLA women’s basketball team enters the 2014-15 season with a renewed optimism having signed the program’s first-ever No. 1 recruiting class in the country, featuring three McDonald’s All-Americans (Recee' Caldwell, Jordin Canada and Lajahna Drummer) and five newcomers all ranked in the Top 30 in the country (Kelli Hayes and Monique Billings are the other two standouts in the class).

The three incoming McDonald’s selections will join another McDonald’s All-American, junior guard Nirra Fields, giving the Bruins four on the court for the first time in program history.

All but Fields returned to campus last week for the start of school and the team officially began practice on Oct. 5. Fields, who is now on campus, spent most of the summer traveling with the Canadian Senior Women's National Team. She and Team Canada recently placed fifth at the FIBA World Championships in Turkey last Sunday.

"My experience playing with Team Canada was a great one," said Fields. "It learned a lot about the commitment and hard work that I have to put in in order to be a world-class athlete. I really enjoyed the time I had with the coaches and teammates. Everything that I learned from them and playing the best players in the world will help me excel at the college level."

The Bruins return three starters from a year ago, including Fields (17.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 2.2 spg) and senior center Luiana Livulo (4.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, only player to start all 31 games last year). Two other players combined to start in 27 games, depending on if the Bruins went small or big with their lineup. Sophomore guard Dominique Williams (0.6 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.2 apg, 15 starts) and senior center Corinne Costa (6.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 2.5 bpg, 12 starts) both made double-digit starts in 2013-14. Costa became UCLA’s all-time career leader in blocks (currently has 116) with two against Washington State on Feb. 2, 2014 and finished second on UCLA's single-season charts with 52 blocks (Necie Thompson, 53 blocks, 36 games, 1980-81).

Livulo spent part of her summer training and playing with Portugal's National Team. She played one game in Italy and two in Portugal. She was second on the team in scoring (12 points) and added two rebounds and an assist in a 65-60 overtime win over Estonia on June 26 in Carcavelos-Lisboa, Portugal in the 2015 Women's EuroBasket 2nd Qualification Round. She also played in the 65-52 loss to Italy in Ragusa, Italy on June 22 and in a 62-55 defeat at the hands of Latvia on June 18 in Caminha, Portugal.

"After I finished playing in the tournament, I was on total vacation," said Livulo. "I went to the south of Portugal and met up with a lot of my friends, and then later, my family came and we were able to spend a lot of time together. I also saw Paulina (Hersler) when I was in Portugal. We even practiced in the same gym."

Returning from the sidelines of an injury-plagued 2013-14 season is redshirt sophomore guard Kari Korver (4.7 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 38 three-pointers), the 2012 high school three-point shooting champion, and redshirt junior forward Kacy Swain (3.1 ppg, 3.0 rpg, .816 FT%) a key reserve from the 2012-13 team that won 26 games and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

UCLA will also return a pair of redshirt freshmen in Hersler (Malmö, Sweden) and center Savanna Trapp (Esko, Minn.). Those two players join recruited freshman walk-on Chrissy Baird (Wheaton, Ill.), which will bolster a freshman class already ranked as the nation's best. The Bruins have eight freshmen (out of 15) on the roster for 2014-15.

Hersler spent the summer playing for Sweden's U20 National Team and trained and played for a month with them for the European Championship for Women, Division A. She averaged 25.1 minutes per game in eight outings, finishing third on the team in scoring (9.5 ppg) and second in rebounding (6.8 rpg). She had one double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds in a 56-47 loss to Ukraine on July 11 in Udine, Italy. She scored in double figures in five of the eight games she played, including a high of 14 points in another loss to Ukraine and in a win over Greece.

"It was a pleasure to play with the Swedish National Team this summer," said Hersler. "I've been on the same team with a lot of them before and some of them are my closest friends, so it was good to see them and play with them again. It was good to be back (after the knee injury) and it was good to get some game reps. We could have performed better, but it was a great experience. My knee felt good the whole time."

Also returning for her senior year is guard Madeline Poteet (2.2 ppg, 1.4 rpg, .347 three-point FG%). Poteet (formerly Brooks) formed a Bruin power couple during the off-season, marrying UCLA right-handed pitcher, Cody Poteet, in a ceremony on campus.

After an exhibition game with Westmont on Nov. 2 (2:00 p.m.), the Bruins will open the season with four straight NCAA Tournament teams, starting with two rematches on the road against opponents that took down the Bruins last year. UCLA will open at James Madison (Colonial Athletic Association, 29-6) in Harrisonburg, Va., on Nov. 14 and then head to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face North Carolina (ACC, 27-10) on Nov. 16. JMU lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament a year ago, while the Tar Heels fell at Stanford in the Elite 8. The Bruins will host Texas in their home opener on Nov. 23 on the Pac-12 Networks at 1:00 p.m.

Women’s basketball season tickets are on sale at the UCLA Central Ticket Office (310-UCLA-WIN). For more ticket information, or to buy tickets now, click here.