In the day and age of college players leaving early and entering the transfer portal, the UCLA women’s basketball team received a welcome surprise Wednesday.
Just eight days after her name was submitted for consideration for the WNBA draft, senior guard Charisma Osborne announced on social media that she will be staying in Westwood for her fifth season.
Coming off an All-American honorable mention season, Osborne posted on Twitter a statement that simply read “it’s always go bruins” followed by a blue and a yellow heart and a brief highlight video and photo, each with the words, “Pauley, I’ll see you again soon.”
It’s always go bruins 💙💛 pic.twitter.com/tY2BfNpZOo
— Charisma 🦋 (@CharismaOsborne) April 5, 2023
The three-time All-Pac-12 player helped propel the Bruins to their fifth Sweet 16 appearance in seven seasons with a UCLA postseason record and career-high 36 points in an 82-73 victory over Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA tournament. UCLA’s season came to an end five days later in a 59-43 loss to No. 1 overall seed South Carolina.
The 5-foot-9 Osborne ranks ninth on UCLA’s all-time scoring list with 1,798 points and was regarded by many to be a first-round pick in Monday’s draft.
After a decorated career as a three-time All-CIF Southern Section player at Windward High, Osborne has made 116 starts for coach Cori Close. She finished this season leading the team with 33 minutes, 15.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game.
Also staying for another season is senior guard Camryn Brown, who started 32 of 36 games for the Bruins.
y’all thought it was over? 💙💛 pic.twitter.com/t6iP3pkiHV
— Cam B (@camnation24) April 5, 2023
The Bruins will look to build off their program-tying best 27-win season by welcoming back their top four scorers in Osborne, freshman guard Kiki Rice (11.6 ppg), redshirt sophomore forward Emily Bessoir (9.4) and freshman guard Londynn Jones (8.6).
Rice and Jones were two of…
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