UCLA star Gabriela Jaquez exudes confidence, style

Wearing a green summer dress, 3-year-old Gabriela Jaquez placed a plastic baseball atop a tee. She then extended her left arm and urged her younger brother Marcos to get back closer to their older brother Jaime.

Once Marcos was a safe distance away, Gabriela checked the bat with authority on the porch twice before taking a powerful hack. Gabriela Jaquez sent a line drive off a fence and toward the swing set in the backyard. Then she sprinted around pretend basepaths, encouraging her older brother to chase her. 

“That was a good hit,” said little Gabriela, who is affectionately known as Gabs by her family.

When you talk about Gabriela Jaquez with the folks who have known her the longest, they all rave about her confidence. Long before the junior forward helped the UCLA women’s basketball team win the 2025 Big Ten Tournament, she was already renowned for her confidence. 

‘Beautiful baller’

Whether on the soccer field, softball diamond, basketball court, at a ballet studio or in the backyard with her brothers, Gabriela Jaquez carried herself with confidence. The daughter of two former college basketball players excelled in every sport she tried.

She’s a key member of the first UCLA women’s basketball team to be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins will face Ole Miss in the Sweet 16 on Friday night in Spokane, Wash.

She’s almost always the first Bruin down the court. Her mother, Angela, was usually the first member of the Concordia University team down the court three decades ago.

Angela Jaquez describes her daughter as a very intense person who will do whatever it takes to win.

“She’s always been that way in every sport and in everything,” Angela Jaquez says of her daughter. “She’s just a hard worker and tough. Her smile and everything, I always call her my beautiful baller. But get her on the court, and she’s tough.”

Gabriela Jaquez has made her own mark at UCLA, where her older brother Jaime led the Bruins to the Final Four as a sophomore and then finished his career as the 2023 Pac-12 Player of the Year. She was a freshman at UCLA during her brother’s senior season before Jaime was drafted in the first round by the Miami Heat.

Mirror image

When Jaime Jr. was picking a jersey number with the Heat, he picked Gabriela’s No. 11 at her request. Gabriela had to wait until her junior year for her preferred No. 11 to free up on the UCLA women’s roster. 

Gabs could often be found in a Lakers jersey before she could even pronounce “Lakers.” She was always asking for her “Yakers” jersey. 

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The 6-foot Gabriela is listed as two inches taller than her mom. But she plays with the same grit and hustle her mom once showcased. Gabriela’s maternal grandmother Doreen Hitterdal was amazed one day by the stark similarities as she noticed her granddaughter run down the court.

If you didn’t know the pictures were taken decades apart, you’d think you were seeing twins in a side-by-side comparison of Angela and Gabriela taking jump shots. The Jaquezes didn’t need to push Gabriela toward basketball. She loved the sport almost as soon as she first picked up a basketball. 

She would accessorize the outfit with pink headbands, pink wrist bands and red shorts. Cowboy boots, pink Barbie flip flops and a pink skirt were staples in her wardrobe when she wasn’t playing sports.

Multi-sport athlete

Gabriela also loved wearing bows. Her bedroom has always been decorated in pink although her apartment in college has more UCLA blue now. 

“She did dance, and was totally into her hair and makeup,” Angela Jaquez says of Gabriela. “Gabs always had a bow in her hair.”

Her superior athleticism was evident right away on the soccer field.

“She was a lot faster and more athletic than all the other little girls,” Jaime Sr. remembers. 

With her father coaching, Gabriela played soccer through fifth grade. Angela played a crucial role developing Gabriela’s basketball skills as her coach with the Camarillo, Calif., Lady Dons. Gabriela played softball and travel basketball through high school before focusing almost entirely on women’s basketball at UCLA.

Love for Mexican heritage

When the Bruins’ renowned softball team needed some speed on the bases, Gabriela joined the UCLA softball team after the basketball season last year. She turned her focus back to basketball after the softball season. The bi-cultural star and third generation Mexican American joined the Mexican women’s national basketball team over the summer.

Playing against 30-year-old women in international competition last summer helped Gabriela get stronger. The time on the Mexican national team also helped her show her appreciation for her Mexican heritage.

“It means a lot,” she says. “I love my Mexican culture, my Mexican heritage. I love how much my family just supports me, and that is ingrained in the Mexican culture. Family is a huge piece of that and how we all gather together, have parties for any little occasion and always come together with food. 

“My family is always so supportive for me and my family. And that’s just amazing just to see the support all the way in another country.”

Gabriela had a front-row seat as her older brother gained a large following at UCLA, especially among Latinos and Mexican Americans who were proud to see a Latino excelling in a sport with few Latino stars. There might be even fewer Latina stars in women’s basketball although Argentine American Diana Taurasi is arguably the greatest women’s basketball player of all time. 

Deep crop of Latinas

Gabriela Jaquez and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, the finalist for the Naismith Player of the Year, are the top remaining Latina stars in the NCAA Tournament. Mexican American prodigy Aaliyah Chavez, the No. 1 ranked recruit in the Class of 2025, committed to Oklahoma on Wednesday. New Mexico native Bella Hines, a Mexican American, will be a freshman at LSU next season.

This might be the deepest crop of Latina basketball talent ever in women’s college basketball history. In a culture that values humility, Gabriela Jaquez is also showing Mexican Americans and Latinos that it is OK to be a confident, strong Latina. 

She embraces her greatness and puts in the work to nurture her talents. The little girl who loved to wear her Kobe Bryant “Jakers” jersey is proving that it’s cool to be tough and beautiful, to wear pink off the court and pester superstar JuJu Watkins or any other star in women’s basketball.

When asked to complete this sentence, “Latinos should know it’s OK to …” Gabriela Jaquez didn’t hesitate.

“Latinos should know,” she says, “that it’s OK to be super confident.”

_{Gabriela Jaquez was featured on the first episode of Our Esquina’s Latino Excellence podcast. You can find Our Esquina’s Latino Excellence Podcast on Apple, Spotify and YouTube.}