LA JOLLA, Calif.—UC San Diego women's basketball defeated Life Pacific, 71-30, on Sunday afternoon in LionTree Arena. The Tritons (5-9) wrapped up their non-conference schedule against the Warriors (4-9) with tough defense, matching their lowest point total for an opponent in the Division I era.
Kayanna Spriggs led UC San Diego for the second straight game with 17 points, matching
Damilola Sule with a team-high nine rebounds—including four offensive boards—and a career-best four blocks. Three other Tritons scored in double-figures including
Gracie Gallegos and
Parker Montgomery with 11 apiece and
Sabrina Ma with 10.
Sumayah Sugapong added nine points and matched her career high with seven assists. Junaé Mahan and Ma led the team with three steals each and five other Tritons collected two takeaways for a total of 18 in the contest.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons opened the contest with a 12-point scoring run, with 10 of those points coming from Spriggs who went 5-for-5 from the floor to start the contest. UC San Diego forced 11 turnovers in the period and took a 16-6 lead into the first quarter break.
Back-to-back threes by Sugapong and Gallegos sparked an eight-point run by the Tritons early in the second quarter to build the largest lead of the half, 24-8. The teams traded baskets to close out the period and UC San Diego took a 29-16 advantage into halftime.
After a quick bucket by Life Pacific to open the second half, the Tritons put together an impressive 14-point scoring run highlighted by a trio of three-pointers from Montgomery. Midway through the period, UC San Diego scored nine unanswered—highlighted by five points from Gallegos—to extend the lead, 52-20. Another three by Junaé Mahan with under a minute on the clock gave the Tritons their largest lead a 55-24 advantage heading into the final quarter break.
A pair of threes by Ma opened the final quarter for UC San Diego and the Tritons used a 13-point scoring run to build their largest lead of the contest (45 points). The Warriors knocked down a pair of shots in the final minute to make the final score 71-30.
TRITON TIDBITS
UP NEXT
UC San Diego will return to Big West play next week, playing host to Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 4 at 2 p.m. in LionTree Arena. The game 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 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.
