On Saturday, Jan. 10, UC San Diego women’s basketball (10-5, 5-0 Big West) downed conference rival UC Riverside (5-10, 3-2 Big West) in a dominating fashion, outscoring the Highlanders 70-54 at LionTree Arena.
Entering into the match, UCSD was riding a three-game win streak, all against Big West teams. Looking to extend their undefeated record against conference opponents, the Tritons relied on defense early in the game before their offense took control.
An impenetrable Triton defense started the game by forcing turnovers and keeping the paint clean, daring UCR to fire from deep early in the matchup. This strategy proved successful, as the Highlanders scored only once in the first five minutes of play. However, facing a taller Highlander lineup, the Triton offense only managed 11 points, unable to take advantage of UCR’s low-scoring first quarter.
In the second period, the Tritons offense found its rhythm. Senior guard Makayla Rose led the way by scoring 7 points, while the rest of the team went 6 for 10 from the field. UCSD’s team-oriented approach helped the Tritons pass the ball effectively and paved the way for five different players to score in the quarter. A buzzer-beating circus shot by senior guard Sabrina Ma pushed the Tritons’ lead to seven going into the break.
Coming out of halftime, UCSD put on its strongest defensive performance of the game. The Tritons made it hard on the Highlanders to score from close range and, once again, forced them to put up shots from deep. The Highlanders couldn’t buy a bucket, shooting just 12.5% from beyond the arc and making only three third-quarter field goals. The Tritons also held Highlander sophomore guard Hannah Wickstrom, who leads the Big West in points per game with 20.9, to no points in the third quarter — further displaying their best defensive showing of the competition.
“I feel like we’ve really focused on [defense],” head coach Heidi VanDerveer told The UCSD Guardian in a postgame interview. “We understand that our defense is our best offense. We’re committed to it. We have people that work extremely hard.”
UCSD held a 50-35 lead over UCR heading into the fourth and refused to take the foot off the gas. With junior center Erin Condron at the helm, the Tritons continued to bully UCR in the paint, where they scored all 20 of their fourth-quarter points. Condron scored eight in the last 15 minutes alone on her way to racking up a career-high 22 total points. Condron also tallied three rebounds, bringing her to a total of 12 for the game and achieving her fourth double-double on the year. The Tritons went on to defeat UCR 70-54.
“I think Erin is a really, obviously, a tremendous basketball player,” VanDerveer said. “She is one of our hardest workers, if not our hardest worker. She’s versatile. I think she’s just scratching the surface of how good she could be and is going to be.”
The Tritons will look to move to 6-0 in conference play when they hit the road to face Cal State Northridge on Thursday, Jan 15.
