LA JOLLA, Calif. – The UC San Diego women's basketball team will look to continue its momentum as it enters its final weekend of home contests. Back at RIMAC Arena after a pair of road wins at UC Riverside, the squad will host UC Irvine for Blue & Gold Night on Friday and Senior Night on Saturday. Both games are slated for 5 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN3.
DETAILS
Games 12/13
UC San Diego (4-7, 4-7) vs. UC Irvine (11-6, 9-2)
February 26-27, 2021
5:00 p.m.
RIMAC Arena, La Jolla
Live video game 1 |
Live video game 2 |
Live stats
Series Record: 0-6
Last meeting: UC Irvine 55, UC San Diego 32 (March 3, 1979)
UC SAN DIEGO AND COVID-19
UC San Diego's nationally renowned Return to Learn program was created to return to in-person teaching, learning, conducting pioneering research and serving our communities in the safest way possible. The program has three adaptive pillars that are central to our strategy to resume on-campus activity: risk mitigation, viral detection, and intervention.
For the latest information on UC San Diego and COVID-19, please visit the University's
Return to Learn site.
ATTENDING THE GAMES
Per the current COVID-19 guidelines set by the state of California, the County of San Diego and the Big West Conference, fans are not permitted to attend home games in RIMAC Arena. For more information on UC San Diego ticket policies, visit
UCSDTritons.com/tickets.
COVERING THE TRITONS
Media members wishing to cover a UC San Diego game in-person at RIMAC Arena this season must request access from a member of the
Athletics Communications staff no later than 10 a.m. on gameday. All media members will need to complete a UC San Diego symptom screening form on the day of game prior to arriving on campus. All media will enter through the RIMAC Arena lobby adjacent to the Ticket Office on the northwest corner of the building. No floor access will be permitted at any time.
Following the conclusion of each game, a video highlight melt and video postgame interviews will be made available for all media members to download.
ABOUT UC SAN DIEGO
Roster |
Schedule |
Stats
Overall: 4-7
Big West: 4-7
Home: 2-5
Away: 2-2
Neutral: 0-0
vs. Ranked Opponents: 0-0
Wearing Blue Uniforms: 2-3
Wearing White Uniforms: 2-4
When Leading at Half: 4-2
When Tied at Half: 0-0
When Trailing at Half: 0-5
Overtime Games: 0-0
Streak: W2
ABOUT UC IRVINE
Roster |
Schedule |
Stats
Overall: 11-6
BWC: 9-2
Home: 5-3
Away: 6-3
Neutral: 0-0
Streak: W3
ON THE MOVE
After 20 seasons playing as an NCAA Division II team, the entire athletics program has begun a four-year transition to NCAA Division I, culminating in full DI status as a member of the
Big West Conference for the 2024-25 academic year. At that time, all sports will be eligible for conference and NCAA postseason play.
(RE)CLASSIFIED INFORMATION
As UC San Diego begins its NCAA-mandated four-year reclassification to Division I, the Tritons are not eligible to compete in Big West or NCAA postseason events. However, UC San Diego will play a full slate of Big West games each year and be eligible for individual Big West honors (e.g., All-Conference Team, Player of the Year, etc.).
BLUE & GOLD NIGHT
Blue & Gold Night will take place on Friday, as the Tritons kick off their rivalry with nearby Big West foe UC Irvine, who also dons blue and gold. All week long, UC San Diego students are participating in daily photo and activity challenges on Triton Tide's Instagram. On Friday, the Ultimate Triton Fan will be determined at Fan Fest before the Tritons battle the Anteaters. There will games and prizes for students. Students can find the registration link on Triton Tide's social media.
SENIOR NIGHT
On Saturday, prior to their contest against the Anteaters, the Tritons will honor their seniors
Layla Ybarra-Harvey and
Tyla Turner. Ybarra-Harvey is a psychology major and literature/writing minor at Muir College. Turner is a sociology major and law and society minor at Marshall College.
LAST TIME OUT
The UC San Diego women's basketball team topped UC Riverside, 74-67, at SRC Arena on Feb. 20, capturing victories in both games of the two-game road series. The victory was career win number 300 for Head Coach
Heidi VanDerveer. Numerous Tritons recorded season and career highs in the win. Among them were
Sydney Brown's career-high 16 rebounds,
Emily Cangelosi's career-best 15 points,
Layla Ybarra-Harvey's career-high eight points, and
Julia Macabuhay's season-best 16 points.
TOP SHOWING FOR TRITONS
In UC San Diego's win over UC Riverside on Feb. 20, the team recorded some of its top numbers of the season. The Tritons' 43 rebounds and 17 made free throws were both season highs for the squad. UC San Diego also tied its season best marks in free throw attempts (23) and points (74).
MILESTONE ACHIEVED
Head Coach
Heidi VanDerveer currently stands at a career record of 300-143, having recorded her milestone 300
th career win at UC Riverside on Feb. 20. VanDerveer holds a mark of 167-57 during her time at UC San Diego. Previously, she served as a head coach at Eastern Washington (1994-97) and Occidental (2008-12).
SYDNEY BROWN MAKES HISTORY
Sydney Brown earned the Tritons' first-ever Big West Conference Player of the Week accolade on Feb. 22. She was also named College Sports Madness' Player of the Week for the Big West Conference and the UC San Diego Athlete of the Week.
The awards recognized Brown for her pair of double-doubles as she helped UC San Diego to two road wins over UC Riverside. The junior recorded 20 points and 12 rebounds in the Tritons' 63-59 win over the Highlanders on Feb. 19. Both of those marks were game highs.
The Rexford, N.Y. native followed up with a career-best 16 rebounds on Feb. 20, as well as a team-best 17 points in UC San Diego's 74-67 victory, which was also Head Coach
Heidi VanDerveer's 300
th career win. Throughout the two victories, Brown recorded a 63.2 field goal percentage and knocked down five of her six attempts from behind the arc.
PRESEASON POLLS
In the Tritons' first year with the Big West Conference, they were ranked 11
th with 25 points in the preseason coaches poll, which was voted on by the conference's head coaches. UC San Diego was tabbed ninth with 74 points in the preseason media poll, in which they earned a first-place vote.
UC Irvine was ranked second in the coaches poll with 101 points and two first-place votes, and second in the media poll with 163 points and one first-place vote.
View the full preseason polls
here.
A LONG-AWAITED REUNION
The Tritons and Anteaters have not faced each other since March 3, 1979. UC San Diego is looking for its first win against the Anteaters, as the squad went 0-6 against UC Irvine throughout the 1970s.
THREES PLEASE
UC San Diego ranks second in the Big West Conference in three-point field goal percentage, shooting 34.2% from beyond the arc. The Tritons also rank second in three-point field goals per game, averaging 8.3. UC San Diego trails only UC Davis in both categories.
INDIVIDUALS IMPACTING THE BIG WEST
Multiple Tritons rank in the top five in various statistical categories among Big West Conference basketball players.
Emily Cangelosi is tied for second in three-point field goals per game (2.0)
Sydney Brown ranks second in rebounds per game (9.2) and fifth in free-throw percentage (76.3%).
ALL EYES ON AISHAH BROWN
Aishah Brown's 10 rebounds were a bright spot in UC San Diego's loss to CSU Bakersfield on Feb. 12. The mark was a team high and a new collegiate best for Brown. For Brown's efforts, she was named the UC San Diego Athlete of the Week on Feb. 15.
SIZZLING SYDNEY BROWN
Sydney Brown picked up her second double-double of the season as the Tritons narrowly lost to Long Beach State, 54-50, on Jan. 29. Brown put up a career-high 15 rebounds and a game-high 23 points. She was recognized as the UC San Diego Athlete of the Week on Feb. 1 for her performance.
Brown's first double-double of the season came on Jan. 2 as she racked up 31 points and 14 rebounds in a 74-63 victory over Cal Poly. Both marks were career highs at the time for Brown as well as game bests. Her 31 points were the most by a Triton since Mikayla Williams' 36 points against Hawai'i Pacific (Nov. 10, 2018). For her efforts, Brown was named the UC San Diego Athlete of the Week on Jan. 4.
CAREER MARKS FOR CANGELOSI
Emily Cangelosi, who has started every game so far this season, put up a career-high 13 points against UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 16. She followed up by scoring 11 points, the second-best mark of her career, against UC Davis on Jan. 22. For her efforts at UC Davis, Cangelosi was tabbed the UC San Diego Athlete of the Week.
AWARDS TIMES THREE FOR TURNER
Tyla Turner has earned three UC San Diego Athlete of the Week accolades this season. Turner was recognized for her efforts against her former squad Long Beach State, Cal Poly, and UC Santa Barbara.
Additionally, Turner was recognized as the San Diego Sports Association's Star of the Month for January. Across January, Turner averaged 13.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.7 steals per game as she started all seven games.
OPTING OUT
Three Tritons have opted out of participation this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hanna Beckman,
Isabelle Parker, and
Lucy Young will be sitting out during the 2020-21 season. Last season, Parker appeared in all 30 games for the Tritons, averaging 16 minutes per game, while Beckman appeared in six games off the bench for a total of 22 minutes. Young is in her freshman year at UC San Diego.
COMING UP
Following their games against UC Irvine, the Tritons will hit the road for their final series of the 2020-21 season. UC San Diego will close the season at Cal State Fullerton at 5 p.m. on Mar. 5-6.
FOUR SET TO JOIN UC SAN DIEGO
Bridget Mullings, Katie Springs, Izzy Forsyth, and Kayleigh Walton have signed their National Letters of Intent (NLI) for the 2021-22 season. The early signing period for Division I basketball NLIs occurred Nov. 11-18, while the regular signing period will take place April 14-May 19.
TRITONS SIGN NCAA UNITY PLEDGE
UC San Diego scholar-athletes have signed the NCAA's Unity Pledge, a symbolic gesture to continue generating stronger unity among the NCAA's 1,100-plus schools and nearly 500,000 student-athletes. The pledge's logo includes three different colored hands holding one another's wrists inside a circle with "United As One" at the bottom.
RACE FOR CHANGE
The UC San Diego women's basketball program organized Race for Change, a virtual 5K which took place Oct. 15-18. All proceeds from the event benefitted the
UC San Diego Black Resource Center (BRC), which provides support services and fosters community for the entire UC San Diego population while emphasizing the Black experience. The team believed it was important to take a day that historically marks the start of a new basketball season and shift the attention to racial and social justice.
CHARITY STRIPE SUCCESS
UC San Diego recorded its best free throw percentage in program history last season. The Tritons went 374-484 at the charity stripe in 2019-20, good for a percentage of 77.3. UC San Diego topped its previous mark of 75.1%, which it recorded during the 2006-07 season.
STRONG FINISH TO THE DIVISION II ERA
The Tritons won back-to-back CCAA Tournament titles for the first time in program history with their 73-62 win over Cal State San Marcos on March 7, 2020. The CCAA Tournament crown was their third during their time with the conference. Additionally, the Tritons earned a share of the CCAA regular season title with their 18-4 regular season conference record during the 2019-20 season, splitting the title with Cal State San Marcos. It was UC San Diego's fifth-straight regular season crown, as well as its 10
th in its CCAA era.
TOP OF THE NATION
Julia Macabuhay finished the 2019-20 season with an All-America accolade from the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, becoming the seventh and final All-American in the Tritons' Division II history. Macabuhay joined Associate Head Coach Chelsea Carlisle, who earned All-America honors three time with the Tritons (2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12), and Assistant Coach Dalayna Sampton, who was named a Triton All-American in 2017-18.
TRIPLE-DOUBLE TURNER
Last season,
Tyla Turner was the first player in the Tritons' Division II history and one of only three players across the country to record two triple-doubles. Turner put up 13 rebounds, 10 points, and 10 assists in her first triple-double on Feb. 1 and contributed 10 rebounds, 10 points, and 10 assists in her second triple-double on March 6.
FULLY REGISTERED
All members of the UC San Diego women's basketball team completed their voter registration as part of a larger initiative to register all Triton scholar-athletes to vote. In all, more than 90% of eligible UC San Diego scholar-athletes registered to vote in November's election.
Additionally, Head Coach
Heidi VanDerveer was featured in the Big West's More Than a Moment public service announcement. In the PSA, VanDerveer and the other Big West women's basketball coaches shared what they would tell their younger selves about voting. Watch the PSA
here.
UC SAN DIEGO ON THE WORLDWIDE LEADER
Most UC San Diego home men's and women's basketball games and men's and women's volleyball matches are broadcast live on ESPN3. For more information on where to watch UC San Diego basketball, visit
UCSDTritons.com/live.
UC SAN DIEGO ATHLETICS LAUNCHES WEEKLY PODCAST
As part of UC San Diego's transition to Division I, the Athletics Department launched a weekly podcast, Tritoncast. Produced by UC San Diego Athletics Communications, Tritoncast features in-depth interviews with UC San Diego personalities including scholar-athletes, alums, coaches, and administrators. Triton fans will get an inside look at the UC San Diego Athletics Department as the program transitions to NCAA Division I and the Big West Conference.
New episodes of Tritoncast are available each week on the most popular podcasting apps, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Audible, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, and TuneIn. In addition, each episode can be heard and downloaded on UCSDTritons.com. For individual show information and listen links, follow Tritoncast on Twitter
@Tritoncast.
KEEP UP WITH THE TRITONS
Follow UC San Diego all season long on social media through
Twitter,
Facebook, and
Instagram. The team's handle is @ucsdwbb.
FOR THE YOUNGER CROWD
Got some young Triton fans in your family? If they are eighth grade or under, check out the
Junior Triton Club. Membership includes a free t-shirt, admission to over 100 UC San Diego home athletic events, and much more!
GEAR
For the latest Triton apparel and accessories, visit the official team store of the Tritons
here.
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 37 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.
