STANFORD, Calif.—UC San Diego women's basketball fell to Stanford, 84-54, on Friday afternoon in Maples Pavilion. The Tritons (1-7) outscored the Cardinal (7-1) 38-36 in the second half, but an early deficit was too much to overcome.
 
Sumayah Sugapong recorded a season-high 21 points, a career-high seven steals and also led the Tritons in rebounds (6) and assists (3). Junae Mahan finished with 10 points and Sabrina Ma added nine, while Kayanna Spriggs collected eight points and five rebounds. Mahan led the team with two blocks and Nicki Polocheck added three steals.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons struggled to get going offensively in the opening quarter, shooting 2-for-12 from the field. Stanford scored 13 of its points in the opening period off of turnovers and went 4-for-6 from three-point range to build a commanding 32-4 lead.
 
UC San Diego continued to battle in the second quarter, forcing 10 turnovers and holding Stanford to 16 points in the period. The Tritons put together a late run with three consecutive steal-and-score baskets, however the Cardinal took a 48-16 lead into the halftime break.
 
A pair of threes early in the second half helped Stanford build its largest lead of the contest, 60-20. The Tritons then put together a 12-3 scoring run to create momentum late in the third quarter. UC San Diego held the slight edge over the Cardinal in the quarter, 20-19, and Stanford took a 67-36 advantage into the final quarter break.
 
The Tritons continued to battle in the final period, outscoring the Cardinal 18-17 with 10 of those points coming from Sugapong. UC San Diego forced 15 second-half turnovers and scored 14 points off of the takeaways. 
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Sumayah Sugapong set UC San Diego's Division I single game record with seven steals in the contest. 
• Sugapong also recorded a season high in points (21) and was four points of her career high.
• The Tritons forced 25 turnovers for Stanford, which is a season-high and the most given up by the Cardinal since Nov. 23, 2015 (26 vs Santa Clara).
• UC San Diego held a +2 margin in the second half and -2 in the final three quarters of play.
• It was the first in-season meeting for UC San Diego and Stanford.
• UC San Diego starters were Sumayah Sugapong, Sabrina Ma, Nicki Polocheck, Kayanna Spriggs and Junae Mahan.

UP NEXT
The Tritons will kick off Big West play with Bold Week, playing host to UC Santa Barbara on Dec. 5. UC San Diego will then travel to take on Cal State Bakersfield on Dec. 7, before returning to non-conference play for the remainder of December. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live statistics 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.