UCLA senior Lauren Betts has been named to the 2026 Naismith Women’s College Defensive Player of the Year Presented by MOLECULE Watch List, according to an announcement from the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
Betts is one of 25 women’s college basketball players featured on the midseason watch list. The center from Centennial, Colorado, currently averages 2.3 blocks and 1.2 steals per game for the 2025-26 season and leads her team with 8.3 rebounds per game. The UCLA Bruins hold a 19-1 record this season.
Last year, Betts won the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award. During that season, she broke the single-season program record for blocks at UCLA by surpassing Monique Billings’ previous mark of 66 blocks in a season. Betts set this new record after recording six blocks against Illinois, bringing her total to 67 at that point in the season. She also established a new single-game record for blocks at UCLA with nine against Baylor during the Coretta Scott King Classic on January 20.
In addition to these accomplishments, Betts achieved a career-best in an NCAA tournament game with six blocks against LSU on March 30. She had five or more blocks in a single game six times last season.
The full list of athletes named to the watch list includes players from programs such as UConn, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Texas, Ohio State, Tennessee, Portland, USC, South Carolina, Duke, Mississippi State, LSU, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Michigan State, Ole Miss, North Carolina, NC State, Texas A&M, Kentucky and others.
Lauren Betts continues to play a key role for UCLA’s women’s basketball team as they pursue further success this season.
