UC San Diego women’s basketball (1–4, 0–0 Big West) pushed Saint Mary’s College (2–2, 0–0 WCC) to double overtime on Thursday morning, ultimately falling to the Gaels 74–65.
Fouls and free throw shots allowed the Tritons to tie the game both at the end of the regulation game and the first overtime period. However, the Gaels went on a 9–0 scoring run in the second overtime period, ending the Tritons’ hopes of coming away with a win.
Thursday was Education Day, with tickets free for students in 8th grade and under. LionTree Arena was packed with 2,649 fans, breaking the women’s basketball attendance record.
“It was high-energy, high-paced,” senior forward Kayanna Spriggs said in a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian. “You really couldn’t hear in the arena, so we really had to communicate on the court and feed off of each other.”
The Tritons got the upper hand on the opening tip, but the Gaels ran away with the ball to make the first shot attempt. Neither team scored until nearly halfway through the quarter, when a Gael forward nailed a 2-point jumper. St. Mary’s went on to build a 4–0 lead until graduate student guard Parker Montgomery put the Tritons on the board with a free throw two minutes later. UCSD ended the quarter leading 9–8, which spelled out the close, back-and-forth play that would define the rest of the regulation game.
UCSD’s strong passing and dominant offense put some distance between themselves and the Gaels in the second quarter. Freshman guard Nicki Polocheck kickstarted UCSD’s scoring run with a 3-pointer from the corner of the court, sending the stands into a frenzy.
Spriggs soon followed with a layup in the paint that gave UCSD a narrow 12–11 lead. The Gaels struggled to mount an offensive effort to match the Tritons as Montgomery and Polocheck continued to poke holes in St. Mary’s defense, each scoring a 3-pointer.
UCSD dominated the second quarter with a 25–19 lead. The Tritons outscored St. Mary’s in each of the first two quarters, a feat they would not be able to keep up for the rest of the game and in the two overtime periods.
UCSD’s biggest lead came in the third quarter, when they fought to build a 32–23 gap. Their offensive efforts were swiftly crushed, however, when St. Mary’s took the court by storm to tie the game seven minutes in at 35–35. Even sophomore guard Sumayah Sugapong, UCSD’s top scorer, couldn’t keep the Tritons in the lead. With 30 seconds left, the game was tied at 40. Sugapong sank a 3-pointer to end the quarter 43–40 in UCSD’s favor.
She didn’t stop there, though. Together, Sugapong and Spriggs powered UCSD’s offense throughout the fourth quarter, trying to keep the chance of a win alive. The Tritons’ odds hit rock bottom when they trailed St. Mary’s by 5 points with around four minutes left in the regulation game.
Perhaps fueled by the roaring enthusiasm from the stands, UCSD rallied to make nine more shot attempts. Spriggs put away a jump shot in the paint to tie the game 51–51. The Gaels put up 3 more points, and then Sugapong ran away with the ball with less than a minute of gameplay remaining. She made 1 point on a free throw, stole the ball from a Gaels guard, and found the net from inside the paint to tie the game 54–54.
The crowd couldn’t cheer just yet; St. Mary’s sent a desperate 3-point shot at the buzzer, but their hail mary fell short, and the battle extended into overtime.
Both teams stayed within 2 points of each other throughout the first overtime period. However, the Tritons’ ability to capitalize on free throws put an end to the tight play. With two seconds on the clock and the Tritons down 62–63, UCSD’s golden opportunity came at the free throw line when a Gael foul gave Sugapong three chances to put the game away.
The students packing the arena cheered Sugapong as she stepped onto the line. She made the first shot. The second fell short. She found the net again with the third, putting UCSD up 64–63. The screams didn’t let up. Sugapong had racked up 15 points as the Tritons’ leading scorer this game.
But St. Mary’s wasn’t done. In the final seconds of overtime, a Gael shot went up from inside the paint. The buzzer sounded as the ball found the net; the scoreboard showed 65–64 in the Gaels’ favor. St. Mary’s had won the game.
Or, had they? Gael celebrations trailed off as the referees and coaches gathered on the court. Fans and athletes waited with bated breaths until the referees awarded St. Mary’s a free throw for a foul by junior guard Sabrina Ma. The referees put 0.8 seconds back on the clock as a Gael went to the line.
The arena roared when she missed the net. The buzzer went off again. This time, the announcers declared the game a 65–64 loss for UCSD. The referees, however, were still discussing adding time to compensate for stopping the clock during fouls.
Postgame celebrations came to a halt once again when 0.5 seconds were added to the clock. The Tritons had the ball and another chance to take the game. Montgomery passed to Spriggs, who was fouled by a Gael interfering with her inbound pass. UCSD called a timeout, and the foul gave Spriggs two shots from the free throw line.
Down 1 point, the foul shots would decide the game for UCSD. Spriggs tied the game with the first free throw to the sound of screams from the stands. She missed the second, however, and the first overtime period ended in a 65–65 tie.
St. Mary’s won the tipoff to open the second overtime period and quickly ran away with the game. Unable to surge late, the Tritons were unable to make any shots. The Tritons went scoreless in the second overtime period as the Gaels put up 9 points. The intense battle to double overtime ended in a disappointing 74–65 loss for UCSD.
“Our grit, our intensity, the way we work hard, [and] even being able to carry over a game to double overtime is pretty big,” Spriggs said.
The Tritons faced the Gaels for the first time last season, losing 61–58 in overtime. Although this defeat puts UCSD 0–2 against St. Mary’s, the Tritons didn’t go down easily. Their fight into double overtime had fans on the edge of their seats; the next matchup between the Tritons and the Gaels will be one to watch out for.
The Tritons fell to Fresno State on their home court on Sunday afternoon. They will be back in action at the Air Force Academy next Friday, Nov. 22.
