Northwestern University Athletics
Sunday, January 25
Evanston, Ill.
3 p.m. CT
Northwestern
vs
UCLA
Photo by: Mary Grace Grabill/Northwestern Athletics
Northwestern Readies For Sunday Showdown With No. 3 UCLA
1/24/2026 3:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball
‘Cats, Bruins set for third all-time meeting on Big Ten Network
EVANSTON, Ill. (January 24, 2026) – Northwestern (8-11, 2-6 B1G) returns home on Sunday afternoon for a 3 p.m. CT meeting with No. 3 UCLA inside Welsh-Ryan Arena. The matchup will air live on Big Ten Network, with Chris Vosters (play-by-play) and Shimmy Miller (analyst) on the call.
LAST TIME OUT
Northwestern gave No. 25 Illinois all it could handle, nearly erasing a 15-point second-half deficit, but saw its upset bid fall short in a 74-71 setback to the Fighting Illini last Sunday at State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill.
Grace Sullivan paced Northwestern on the afternoon, finishing with 21 points and nine rebounds. Sullivan, who enters Sunday's clash just 25 points shy of 1,000 for her career, is averaging 23.6 points in Big Ten Conference play.
Xamiya Walton enjoyed the top offensive showing of her collegiate career, pouring in a career-high 19 points. Walton connected on five attempts from beyond the three-point arc.
Casey Harter continued her impressive play of late, adding 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Harter has scored in double figures in three straight games and six of her last eight appearances. Caroline Lau rounded out a quartet of Wildcats to reach double figures in scoring, chipping in 12 points and a team-high seven assists. Lau played a full 40 minutes for the second time this season.
SCOUTING UCLA
UCLA (18-1, 8-0 B1G) storms into Evanston in the midst of a 12-game win streak that dates back to an 89-59 rout of Duke on November 27 at the Players Era Women's Championship in Las Vegas, Nev. Head coach Cori Close's team, which sits at No. 3 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll, owns a sparkling 8-0 mark in Big Ten Conference play, where it has outscored opponents by an average of 27 points per game.
The Wildcats will be tasked with slowing down multiple-time All-American Lauren Betts. Betts, the reigning Naismith and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, averages a team-best 16.1 points, pacing a quartet of Bruins in double figures. The senior center has a league-high eight double-doubles to her name in 2025-26.
Fellow All-American Kiki Rice sits just behind Betts on the Bruins' scoring chart, adding 15.2 points per contest. Rice, who dishes out just north of four assists per game, ranks second in the Big Ten and ninth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.93).
Gianna Kneepkens (13.9 ppg) has established herself as one of the Big Ten's top sharpshooters, operating at a league-best 47.7 percent clip from three-point land.
SERIES STUFF
Northwestern and UCLA will meet for just the third time on Sunday afternoon in an all-time series that is knotted up at a game apiece. The Wildcats and Bruins clashed in back-to-back seasons in 1984-85, with each team protecting its home floor.
UCLA will be the first team from the state of California to pay a visit to Welsh-Ryan Arena since Northwestern dispatched UC Santa Barbara by a final score of 72-46 on November 14, 2021.
UP NEXT
Northwestern begins a two-game road swing on Wednesday, January 28, heading west to take on No. 24 Nebraska in a 7 p.m. CT tilt inside Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb.
LAST TIME OUT
Northwestern gave No. 25 Illinois all it could handle, nearly erasing a 15-point second-half deficit, but saw its upset bid fall short in a 74-71 setback to the Fighting Illini last Sunday at State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill.
Grace Sullivan paced Northwestern on the afternoon, finishing with 21 points and nine rebounds. Sullivan, who enters Sunday's clash just 25 points shy of 1,000 for her career, is averaging 23.6 points in Big Ten Conference play.
Xamiya Walton enjoyed the top offensive showing of her collegiate career, pouring in a career-high 19 points. Walton connected on five attempts from beyond the three-point arc.
Casey Harter continued her impressive play of late, adding 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Harter has scored in double figures in three straight games and six of her last eight appearances. Caroline Lau rounded out a quartet of Wildcats to reach double figures in scoring, chipping in 12 points and a team-high seven assists. Lau played a full 40 minutes for the second time this season.
SCOUTING UCLA
UCLA (18-1, 8-0 B1G) storms into Evanston in the midst of a 12-game win streak that dates back to an 89-59 rout of Duke on November 27 at the Players Era Women's Championship in Las Vegas, Nev. Head coach Cori Close's team, which sits at No. 3 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll, owns a sparkling 8-0 mark in Big Ten Conference play, where it has outscored opponents by an average of 27 points per game.
The Wildcats will be tasked with slowing down multiple-time All-American Lauren Betts. Betts, the reigning Naismith and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, averages a team-best 16.1 points, pacing a quartet of Bruins in double figures. The senior center has a league-high eight double-doubles to her name in 2025-26.
Fellow All-American Kiki Rice sits just behind Betts on the Bruins' scoring chart, adding 15.2 points per contest. Rice, who dishes out just north of four assists per game, ranks second in the Big Ten and ninth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.93).
Gianna Kneepkens (13.9 ppg) has established herself as one of the Big Ten's top sharpshooters, operating at a league-best 47.7 percent clip from three-point land.
SERIES STUFF
Northwestern and UCLA will meet for just the third time on Sunday afternoon in an all-time series that is knotted up at a game apiece. The Wildcats and Bruins clashed in back-to-back seasons in 1984-85, with each team protecting its home floor.
UCLA will be the first team from the state of California to pay a visit to Welsh-Ryan Arena since Northwestern dispatched UC Santa Barbara by a final score of 72-46 on November 14, 2021.
UP NEXT
Northwestern begins a two-game road swing on Wednesday, January 28, heading west to take on No. 24 Nebraska in a 7 p.m. CT tilt inside Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb.
Players Mentioned
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