Michelle Smith: Gina Conti is the emotional leader for No. 9 UCLA women's basketball

Gina Conti apologizes at one point, “Sorry, I talk a lot.”

Cori Close doesn’t mind one bit.

“She’s our lieutenant, the emotional leader,” Close said. “Gina can get people to do or say anything that nobody else would be able to do.”

It’s a good trait for a fifth-year senior to have on a team that is loaded with young talent.

“With all of them coming in together, it’s been a chance for everyone to build relationships off the court,” Conti said. “We’ve had a lot of time as a team to bond and get to know each other and I think it’s translated into how we play.”

The ninth-ranked Bruins have won eight of their last 10 games heading into this weekend’s trip to Washington and Washington State.

Conti has started 16 consecutive games, and leads the team in assists at 3.9 per game to go with 21 steals. She is averaging 7.9 points a game, but has boosted that to 10.8 over the past five games. And she is finding her 3-point shot, with nine in the last four games.

“She is shooting it better and looking for her opportunities,” Close said, who also feels good about Conti’s perimeter defense and passing. “I’ve really liked the progress I’m seeing. I’ve challenged her.”

Conti arrived at UCLA in 2021, coming west from Wake Forest to take a shot at winning a championship with the Bruins as a graduate transfer, connecting quickly and easily with Close and her staff, not to mention the California weather.

A foot injury that looked like it would cost her only part of her final season ended up being a season-ender and left Conti with a decision about whether to return for another season.

“I want to play pro basketball, whatever that opportunity is,” Conti said, who is finishing her master's in education. “I have a lot of time to join the workforce. I came to UCLA to try to win a championship, so why would I not come back?”

Close said she did not recruit Conti to return, wanting to give her space to make the best decision for her. 

“I tried to give her the freedom to choose what she wanted, and I wanted her to feel empowered to do that,” Close said. “But I really wanted her to experience what she came here to do.”

Conti said she learned a lot from her season watching from the sideline and breaking down film.

“After being somewhere else for four years, I have learned a lot, things that I hadn’t known before,” Conti said. “I look at film in a different way.”

Physically, Conti said she has given herself a lot of grace while determining what else she could add to her game.

“I’m definitely getting more comfortable,” Conti said. “My role here is to be a leader, a floor general and I want to set up my teammates for success. But I also know I need to be a scoring threat. I’m still working on that.”

Close said Conti just “brings joy” to her team.

“When she leaves the locker room, she has secret handshakes for everyone and hilarious nicknames,” Close said. “She just makes everybody smile. But I had one of my proudest moments with her today. We were having a 10-minute scrimmage and she got into people, telling them it wasn’t enough and she brought them back.

“She’s done the relationship work, but now what I want is to see more of her holding the standard. In the USC game, she pulled everybody in and told them ‘We are winning this game’, and she was commanding the huddle before I got in there and that’s when the game turned. That’s how I need her to be, in every practice, every day.”

In other words, Gina, keep talking.