Mystics’ Lauren Betts wins 2026 Honda Sport Award

The college basketball season is long over and the UCLA Bruins’ national championship in the rearview, but Lauren Betts continues to clean up on the awards front even as she begins her WNBA career with the Washington Mystics.

The latest award the new Mystics center took home was the Honda Sport Award, an award given out to student athletes in 12 different NCAA sports, and Lauren Betts was obviously the basketball selection following an outstanding senior year at UCLA.

Betts is now a finalist for even more honors in the Class of 2026 Honda Cup and the Collegiate Women Athlete of the Year Award. Following the Bruins’ national championship, Betts won the Lisa Leslie Award for college basketball’s best center. She was also named an AP All-American, a USBWA All-American and a WBCA Coaches All-American.

Some of the other honors she took home this season were the Big Ten Player of the Year, Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

Betts was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft by the Mystics, and she joins former UCLA teammate Angela Dugalic and UCLA coach Michaela Onyenwere on the roster.

She’s coming off a season in which she appeared in 37 games at a little over 27 minutes per game. She averaged 17.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.1 blocked shots with splits of 58.2 percent shooting from the field and 68.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

Betts led UCLA to their first national championship in the NCAA era, but the program did win a national title in 1978 when the Bruins were part of the AIAW.