LOS ANGELES—After trailing by as many at 16, UC San Diego women's basketball rallied late but ultimately could not complete the comeback, falling to Penn 60-55.
Sydney Brown and
Alex Obouh Fegue led the Tritons with eight points each and four others finished with seven points apiece.
The Tritons (2-3) held the rebounding advantage 46-33 over the Quakers (4-1), led by Obouh Fegue who finished with 11—her first double figure effort of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons jumped out to an early 8-3 lead behind five points from
Aishah Brown, but then went cold from the field missing their next 16 shots. In turn, the Quakers went on a 17-0 run down the stretch to hold a 20-8 lead at the end of the first period.
UC San Diego found a rhythm to open the second period after a three-pointer by
Sydney Brown sparked a 7-point run for the Tritons. The defense held Penn to six points in the second quarter, forcing five turnovers and outrebounding the Quakers 13-6.
Penn took a 26-18 lead into the halftime break of the low-scoring contest.
UC San Diego continued to battle to begin the second half before an 11-4 run by the Tritons cut the lead to single digits. Obouh Fegue netted six-straight points for the Tritons in the final three minutes of the period and a jumper by
Parker Montgomery at the buzzer made it 36-42 to end the third quarter.
The Tritons opened the final quarter with another 11-4 run, including back-to-back threes from
Brianna Claros and Montgomery to secure their first lead of the contest, 47-46, with 7:20 to play. Penn answered immediately with an eight-point run of its own to retake the lead.
UC San Diego continued to battle cutting the lead to three points with 1:18 remaining but the comeback fell just short.
QUOTABLE
"We played against a very good Penn team today," said head coach
Heidi VanDerveer. "And unfortunately, we didn't really play that well in the first half or execute our game plan. We came in the second half and obviously responded and put ourselves in a position to take the lead. Then we just couldn't get the stops that we needed.
I think we expended a lot of energy getting back in the game, but we have to do it from the very beginning. We have to really come out and play. I think we have a resilient team and they'll figure it out and we'll figure it out."
TRITON TIDBITS
UP NEXT
UC San Diego will remain in Los Angeles for its second game of the LMU Thanksgiving Classic. The Tritons will face the host team Loyola Marymount on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT. A free livestream will be broadcast on the WCC Network and live statistics will available via UCSDTritons.com.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program has begun a new era as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have garnered prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.
