UCLA basketball player Gabriela Jacquez has been selected to represent the Mexican national team in the pre-qualifying tournament for the 2024 FIBA ​​Women’s Basketball World Cup. The news was announced on the UCLA Athletics website on Friday.

The FIBA ​​Pre-Qualifying Tournament is a seven-day tournament to determine the 16 qualifying teams for the 2026 FIBA ​​Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin. The tournament will be held from August 19 to 25 in Mexico City, Mexico, at the Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera. The sports hall once hosted the volleyball competitions of the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Last season, the rising junior forward averaged 10 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. She appeared in 34 games, started six times and averaged 25.2 minutes per game. The Camarillo, California native scored the first 30-point game of her career in the Bruins’ 113-64 win over Bellarmine on Nov. 12. It was the first of three double-doubles she would record this season.

In her sophomore season, she improved in all aspects of the game, setting new career highs in points, rebounds, assists, 3-pointers and free throws made in a single game.

As a freshman, she appeared in all 37 of the Bruins’ games and started twice. She was the team’s leading scorer against Washington State and Oregon State. Jacquez also finished the season as the team’s best player with a shooting percentage of 45.5%.

The Bruins basketball team features several players who have been selected for the honor of representing their national team. In February, two Bruins were also selected to represent a rival national team at the FIBA ​​Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Brazil. Then-senior Angela Dugalic, a Eurobasket gold medalist, was selected to represent the Serbian national team. Then-sophomore Lina Sontang competed for the German national team. Both teams qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

In addition, UCLA graduate Emily Bessoir represented the German national team at this year’s Olympic Games alongside Sontang. Bessoir played small forward for the Bruins and was named to the Pac-12 All-Tournament Team.

Jacquez is also the younger sister of Jaime Jacquez Jr., who was selected in the first round of the Miami Heat draft. The brother-sister duo comes from two former college basketball players at Concordia University in Irvine, California. Although Jacquez Jr., a former Bruin, also appeared as a member of the Mexican national team, he opted not to represent the team in the FIBA ​​Olympic qualifying tournament in July.