LA JOLLA, Calif.–UC San Diego women's basketball defeated Portland, 85-76, on Sunday evening in LionTree Arena. With the win, The Tritons (1-2) improve to 1-1 in the all-time series with the Pilots (2-3).
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The Tritons were led offensively by
Emily Cangelosi with a career-high 25 points and
Sydney Brown with a season-high 21 points.
Julia Macabuhay added 13 points and led the team with seven assists. Brown recorded her first double-double of the season, finishing with a team-best 11 rebounds, while
Parker Montgomery added five boards. UC San Diego spread the ball around with seven Tritons recording at least two assists for a team total of 22.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego jumped out to the early 16-6 lead in the opening quarter, with five different Tritons scoring in the opening minutes. Portland answered with a nine-point scoring in the closing minutes to take its only lead of the game, 17-16.
Grace Talbot sank a free throw in the final seconds to tie the game at 17-all heading into the first quarter break.
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The Tritons came out blazing in the second quarter, going on a 11-3 scoring run to build their lead, 28-20. The Pilots closed the gap to four points but UC San Diego would not let up, going on a 4-0 run to close out the half and take a 40-32 lead into the break.
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Cangelosi caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 14 of the Tritons 28 points, including four threes. UC San Diego extended its lead by as many as 15 and took a 68-55 lead into the final quarter break.
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The Tritons opened the fourth period with a 7-3 run for their largest lead of the game, 75-58. Portland rallied midway through the quarter with a 13-3 run to cut the lead to single digits, but the Tritons held on down the stretch to secure the 85-76 victory.
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TRITON TIDBITS
- Emily Cangelosi and Sydney Brown both finished with 20+ point games for the Tritons—the first of the season for UC San Diego. Julia Macabuhay also turned in a double-figure scoring effort.
- Cangelosi tallied a career high 25 points, finishing 7-for-12 from three-point range.
- The Tritons finished 12-26 (46.2%) from three-point range, their best of the season.
- UC San Diego held the advantage in points in the paint (30-20), field goal percentage (50%-39.7%), assists (22-12) and turnovers (14-19).Â
- Portland held the advantage in boards (41-33), second chance points (17-7) and bench points (35-18).
- With the win, the Tritons improve 1-1 in the all-time series with Portland.
UP NEXT
The Tritons will travel to Las Vegas for the UNLV Thanksgiving Tournament, Nov. 25-27. The true bracket-style tournament will see UC San Diego face off with Illinois State on Friday, Nov. 25 at 6:30 p.m. PT. The winner will play the winner of Louisiana Tech/Stetson on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 2:30 p.m. PT. The final day of competition will be played on Sunday, Nov. 27.Â
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Teams participating in the three-day event include host UNLV, UAlbany, East Tennessee State (ETSU), George Washington, Louisiana Tech, Stetson and UC San Diego.
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Both Friday and Saturday's contests will take place in the Thomas & Mack Center and competition will move to Cox Pavilion on Sunday. Streaming information will be available at a later date and live statistics will be available via UCSDTritons.com.
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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 began a new era in 2020 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 earned 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.
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