COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—UC San Diego women's basketball fell in overtime, 67-64, to Air Force on Friday evening in Clune Arena. The Tritons (1-5) outscored the Falcons (5-1) 10-1 in the fourth quarter to force overtime in the first ever meeting between the two programs.
 
Three Tritons finished with double-figure points, led by Gracie Gallegos with 16 and Kayanna Spriggs and Sabrina Ma with 15 and 10 points respectively. Gallegos and Spriggs both finished just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds apiece, while Sumayah Sugapong collected a career high with eight. Sugapong led the team with five assists, Ma collected four steals and Gallegos tallied three blocks—all matching their career highs.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons fell behind early, 10-2, in the opening quarter before putting together an eight-point run that included three straight baskets by Gallegos to tie things up 10-10. The teams traded the lead down the stretch and remained knotted 19-all at the end of the opening period.
 
After trading baskets to open the second quarter, the Falcons held a one-point advantage, 27-26, with 6:15 to play in the half. Air Force then went on a 6-0 run to create distance, but a timely three from Ma and a layup by Emma Svoboda ended the run and kept the Tritons in the fight. With under two minutes to play, Svoboda hit another shot in the paint and Gallegos knocked down a jumper to tie the game once again at 35-35. The Falcons hit three at the buzzer to take a 38-35 advantage into the halftime intermission.
 
Air Force began to pull away in the third quarter, using an early 15-4 scoring run that included eight points off of free throws to lead, 55-43. The Tritons began to heat up from beyond the arc, with Rosa Smith and Ma hitting a pair of threes in the final two minutes to bring the deficit back to single digits, 59-50, at the end of the third.
 
UC San Diego put up an impressive showing in the fourth period, outscoring the Falcons 10-1 and holding AFA to 0-of-17 from the field and 0-of-9 from three. Gallegos and Ma led the Tritons with four points each and UC San Diego was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Ma got the Tritons within one point with a layup with 1:26 remaining and Spriggs hit a pair of free throws with 6.5 seconds to force overtime, 60-60.
 
After the Falcons got the opening point in overtime with a free throw to lead, 61-60, the Tritons got two made free throws by Sugapong and a layup by Gallegos to lead, 64-61, with 3:14 to play. Air Force scored the final six points in the period, holding the Tritons off the board to win, 67-64.

QUOTABLE
"I'm very proud of our team's resiliency tonight," said head coach Heidi VanDerveer. "We dug ourselves a hole, then competed, battled back and had some people make some plays. We've got athletes with great character, and they will continue to fight and continue to battle. I think we're extremely close, it's just a matter of putting all the pieces together for 40 minutes. But I love our team's competitiveness, resiliency and grit. We have leaders evolving and chemistry developing and I'm very proud of our team and their effort, and we'll continue to battle."
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Sumayah Sugapong (8 rebounds, 5 assists), Sabrina Ma (4 steals) and Gracie Gallegos (3 blocks) all recorded career highs.
• The Tritons held the advantage in rebounds (43-34), points in the paint (34-30), bench points (14-13), while Air Force had the edge in forced turnovers (29-17), points off turnovers (28-11), second chance points (6-4) and fast break points (22-7).
• UC San Diego shot 46.0% (23-of-50) from the field, 23.5% (4-of-17) from three and 77.8% (14-of-18) from the free throw line.
• Air Force shot 33.8% (23-of-68) from the field, 21.4% (6-of-280) from three and 71.4% (15-of-21) from the line.
• The Tritons are now 0-1 in the all-time series with Air Force.
• The Tritons are 0-2 in overtime games this season.
• UC San Diego starters were Sumayah Sugapong, Sabrina Ma, Nicki Polocheck, Gracie Gallegos and Kayanna Spriggs.
  • Freshman Nicki Polocheck made her first collegiate start in the contest.

UP NEXT
The Tritons will remain in Colorado, facing off at Denver on Sunday at 12 p.m. PT. The game will be streamed via the Summit League Network ($) 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 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 84 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.