UCLA women’s basketball made its first move of the transfer portal season with the addition of Arkansas sophomore guard Bonnie Deas, who averaged nearly a double-double in her first season in the SEC.
The 5-foot-9 combo guard averaged 10.2 points and nine rebounds last season with the Razorbacks along with 1.5 steals per game. The Australian will have three years of eligibility remaining and could be in the Bruins’ starting lineup next season.
Coach Cori Close said before the team’s NCAA tournament championship win that she expected to bring in at least five transfers to replace the six senior and graduage students who exhausted their eligibility, including the full starting lineup.
Deas started 32 games as a true freshman, was second on the team in scoring and was only one of two players averaging double-figure scoring.
Arkansas guard Bonnie Deas, left, is joining the UCLA women’s basketball team.
(Michael Woods / Associated Press)
As a guard who can rebound, Deas could fit into the role Gabriela Jaquez played for the Bruins this season.
Deas helped lead Australia to a silver medal at the 2025 FIBA Under-19 Women’s Basketball World Cup when she averaged 12.3 points and 7.7 rebounds.
UCLA is returning just guards Christina Karamouzi, Lena Bilic as well as forwards Sienna Betts, Amanda Muse and Timea Gardiner and bringing in freshman Spanish guard Somto Okafor.
Gardiner is likely to slot back into a starting role after coming back from injury, while Betts and Bilic could claim starting roles after having regular rotation spots in the postseason. The Bruins could still use some more size and another playmaker before having next year’s roster locked in.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: latimes.com
