NORTHRIDGE, Calif.–UC San Diego San Diego women's basketball defeated CSUN, 57-46, on Saturday afternoon in Premier America Credit Union Arena. With the win, the Tritons (12-13, 9-6 Big West) swept the season series with the Matadors (5-21, 4-12 Big West).
 
For the second consecutive game, Izzy Forsyth led the Tritons offensively. Forsyth finished with 15 points, while Sydney Brown added 12 and four other Tritons added seven apiece. Brown also finished one rebound shy of a double-double with a game-high nine boards. Forsyth also led the team with three assists and Emily Cangelosi collected two steals.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams got off to a slow start offensively, trading a one-point lead for most of the opening quarter. With CSUN leading 10-9 with 1:57 on the clock, the Tritons closed out the period with a 7-0 run to take the 16-10 advantage heading into the first break.
 
UC San Diego extended its scoring run with an early jumper by Montgomery and built a double-figure lead, 23-12, midway through the period. Back-to-back threes by CSUN cut the lead back to five before the Tritons went on an 8-0 scoring run to close out the half, leading 32-18.
 
The Tritons carried the momentum into the second half, opening the third quarter with a 7-3 scoring run to build their largest lead of the contest, 39-21. The Matadors cut the lead in half, scoring nine unanswered points to make it 39-39 midway through the period. UC San Diego kept pace the rest of the way and a late three by Forsyth gave the Tritons the 48-37 advantage heading into the final quarter break.
 
UC San Diego opened up the fourth quarter with a 4-0 run to build its lead back to 15. The Tritons remained tough on defense down the stretch to hold off any chance of a comeback from the Matadors, winning 57-46.
 
QUOTABLE
"I'm proud of our team's bounce-back win," said UC San Diego head coach Heidi VanDerveer. "We've had a couple of really challenging games lately with Hawai'i and Fullerton, with some good opportunities and I thought that today—after a bit of a slow start—we came out and played a really solid second quarter. CSUN made a bit of a run in the third and knocked down some shots, but we regained our composure and finished. It's never easy winning on the road, no matter what an opponent's record is. I thought our team showed a lot of determination and resiliency to stick together in a tough environment."
 
'The person who I thought really came in and gave us tremendous energy was Katie Springs. She came in and rebounded, she defended, she provided us an excellent spart off the bench. I'm very happy with her and I felt that our team fed off of that energy. Very proud of our team's win."
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Izzy Forsyth turned in her 12th double-figure scoring effort of the season and Sydney Brown recorded her 18th.
• UC San Diego shot 37.3% from the field and 7-of-25 (28%) from three-point range, making 12-of-17 from the free throw line. CSUN shot 36.7% and 6-of-16 (37.5%) from three, finishing 4-of-7 at the line.
• The Tritons held the edge in points off of turnovers (24-10), points in the paint (22-18), rebounds (37-30) and second chance points (11-0).
• UC San Diego starters were Sydney Brown, Emily Cangelosi, Izzy Forsyth, Julia Macabuhay and Parker Montgomery. 

 
UP NEXT
The Tritons will continue a busy stretch of four games in eight days, playing host to UC Davis on Monday at 3 p.m. and hosting UC Irvine on Thursday for the Tritons Pink Game at 7 p.m. UC San Diego will wrap up the week at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 4 p.m. The games will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live statistics will be 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 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.