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In 2022, Kiki Rice led Sidwell Friends School in D.C. to an undefeated season and a national high school championship. Four years later, Rice is playing for another national title.
Rice and her UCLA Bruins face South Carolina in the NCAA Women’s National Championship game Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern in Phoenix. UCLA enters the matchup with a 36-1 record, while South Carolina is 36-3.
The 5-foot-11 senior guard grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, in a highly athletic family. Her brother, Teo, and father, John, both played basketball at Yale, while her mother, Andrea, played tennis there. Rice was the All-Met Player of the Year at Sidwell Friends and the No. 2 recruit in the country coming out of high school.
“Coming out of high school, Kiki had her choice of colleges. Many thought she’d choose one of the perennial national champions, but she was drawn to UCLA for the opportunity to build something special. She wanted to help bring the program to places it hadn’t been before. She has absolutely done that … along with her amazing teammates,” Andrea Rice told WTOP.
Win or lose on Sunday, this season is already the best in UCLA women’s basketball history. The Bruins went undefeated in Big Ten regular-season play at 22-0, won the Big Ten tournament for the second straight year, recorded the most wins in school history and earned their first-ever No. 1 national ranking. Now, they are one win away from the program’s first national championship.
Last year, UCLA reached the Final Four for the first time and lost to eventual champion UConn, a defeat that Rice said became a valuable learning experience.
“The experience that we got from last year’s Final Four and everything we went through last year I think it prepared us for what to expect coming into this Final Four so we knew there was a lot of outside distractions that are pulling us in different ways but just to stay focused, control what you can control and make the most of an opportunity,” Rice said after UCLA’s semifinal win over Texas.
Rice finished that game with 11 points and five rebounds, sealing a 51-44 win over the Longhorns, who handed UCLA its only loss of the season back in November.
Since then, the Bruins have won 30 straight games, led by All-American center Lauren Betts and Rice, who ranks second on the team in scoring, rebounds, assists and steals. Rice was named a third-team AP All-American.
“We are so proud of Kiki,” Rice said. “She bet on herself, and what could be better as a parent than seeing your child work hard on a dream and watching it come true?”
