In a Sunday matinee women’s basketball showdown between UC San Diego (1–3, 0–0 Big West) and Arizona (3–0, 0–0 Big 12), the Wildcats beat a scrappy Triton team 54–65. Arizona’s Breya Cunningham led all players in scoring with 16 points.
For three of the players on the court, this matchup was a high school reunion. Cunningham, along with teammate Jada Williams and Triton sophomore guard Sumayah Sugapong, went to high school at La Jolla Country Day School. In their senior season, the trio led the Torreys to a 29–4 record, placing them among the top ranked teams in the country.
Arizona entered the game as heavy favorites, having qualified for every March Madness in the last four years, including a runner-up finish in 2021. Last year’s regular season matchup between UCSD and Arizona in Tucson finished with a resounding 43-point victory for the Wildcats.
“We weren’t really that good last year in terms of handling the pressure,” UCSD Head Coach Heidi VanDerveer said in a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian. “We were young, Sumayah was young, Eri [Blithikioti] was young. We had a lot of young pieces like Rosa [Smith], [who played] in the last game before we redshirted her. So, I don’t think that was really fair to our team. I think this is a new year and a new team. I think we have competitive depth. I think we showed tremendous character.”
The game started rough for the Tritons; Sugapong committed two early fouls that sent her to the bench, and redshirt sophomore guard Junae Mahan suffered an injury that ruled her out of the game. Arizona quickly jumped out into a 7-point lead, but an 8–0 run from the Tritons gave them a lead late in the first quarter. Up by 1, the Tritons failed to score for the next nine minutes of game time, as the Wildcats regained their lead. Arizona’s advantage eventually ballooned to 17 before a triple from redshirt sophomore guard Gracie Gallegos put an end to the Tritons’ drought. Part of the Tritons’ woes was the struggle to deal with Arizona’s full court press, which forced a number of Triton turnovers in the backcourt.
“I think Arizona is very big and very athletic, and that’s kind of how they play,” VanDerveer said. “They are a Power 4 team for a reason. They are bigger and more athletic than we are. I think that, for most of the night, we handled it really well. I think that most of our turnovers kind of came up when we picked the ball up in the front court and had a couple off the inbounds.”
The Wildcats continued their onslaught right out of halftime — at one point going on an 18–2 run — and a win began to look out of reach for the Tritons. However, down 27, the UCSD offense finally began to pick up. The Tritons outscored the Wildcats 30–14 in the final 13 minutes of the game, and what looked like a blowout just a quarter earlier ended in a respectable 11-point loss for UCSD.
While the Tritons did not emerge victorious, VanDerveer was proud of the way her team fought in the fourth.“I think we showed our character. I think the score of the fourth quarter proved that we’re resilient and we’re gritty,” she said.
Senior guard Parker Montgomery led the Tritons in scoring with 14 points, half of which came in the final quarter, while also notching four steals. Senior forward Kayanna Spriggs added 11 points and grabbed eight boards. VanDerveer was unable to provide The Guardian with an update on Mahan’s injury, but the forward did not suit up for Thursday’s game against Saint Mary’s.
The Tritons played the Gaels in a double-overtime thriller on Thursday morning, where they fell 65–74, bringing their record to 1–3 on the season. They will look to bounce back against Fresno State at LionTree Arena on Sunday.
