“Plays far beyond her years”: College hoops fans go gaga over 1 UCLA star but it’s neither Kiki Rice nor Lauren Betts

Despite the presence of preseason All-Big Ten team members Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice, UCLA fans have found another player to rave about. As the Bruins defeated defending champions South Carolina Gamecocks 77-62 on Sunday, UCLA supporters are pointing fingers at guard Elina Aarnisalo’s impact.

Despite lodging better overall numbers earlier, the Finnish freshman had her best Division I outing at Pauley Pavilion. She garnered 13 points on 60.0% shooting alongside four assists, three rebounds and a steal in 27 minutes, helping the Bruins beat the Gamecocks.

With that, fans are flooding social media to highlight Aarnisalo's winning contribution:

"Love Elina Aarnisalo! As a freshman, she plays far beyond her years. An unselfish player with the ability to knock down shots, and brings a lot to the table. The Bruins have two excellent facilitators in her and Rice.," a fan wrote.

"Bruins did ALL that with pretty much nothing offensively from Betts! Elina Aarnisalo! WOW!! 💙💛," another fan commented.

"This! Elina Aarnisalo is a Finnish “freshman” like Fiebich was a “rookie”. Elina was a professional before playing for UCLA," another fan commented.

More fans added similar thoughts about Aarnisalo's production:

"Elina Aarnisalo doesn't play like or carry herself like a freshman. Her poise, decision making, and composure is really impressive to me. Imagine her by the time she's a senior... wow..," a fan commented.

"Elina Aarnisalo is so steady at the PG spot for her age.," another fan wrote.

"ELINA AARNISALO AHHHHHHH," another fan commented.

UCLA was initially unsure about starting Elina Aarnisalo and KiKi Rice

With Kiki Rice available after being on a day-to-day availability due to her shoulder injury, coach Cori Close was contemplating starting either Rice or Aarnisalo at point guard. However, UCLA eventually started with them both, making it one of their best decisions of the outing.

As both teams struggled to score for nearly three minutes, Aarnisalo made the first bucket of the game and either scored or assisted on UCLA’s first 15 points. While making high IQ lays throughout the contest, she also scored in bunches, giving an extra boost to UCLA’s offense.

"I thought (Aarnisalo) had gotten our offense in a rhythm," Cori Close said after the game. “And so it’s just a choice that I made. “I tell them every day, hold ‘starting’ really loosely. I could care less who starts. It’s just a matter of who do I think is going to help us have the best start and then let’s see who’s playing well and then they try to move the pieces from there.”

Aarnisalo’s early contributions also allowed the entire lineup to chip in. The Bruins had four other players scoring in double digits: Lauren Betts (14 points and 11 rebounds), Kiki Rice (11 points), Gabriela Jaquez (11 points) and Londynn Jones (15 points).