STOCKTON, Calif. — UC San Diego women's basketball dropped a tightly contested season-opener, 69-66, to Pacific on Monday evening in the Spanos Center. It was the first meeting ever between the Tritons (0-1) and the Tigers (1-0).
 
Makayla Rose led the Tritons with 16 points, while Lev Feiman finished with 15 in her collegiate debut. Erin Condron and Dymonique Maxie also scored in double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively. Condron also led the team with eight rebounds, while Feiman finished with four. The Tritons collected 16 steals, led by Maxie with six and Feiman and Rose with four and three respectively. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Pacific built a 10-4 lead early in the opening quarter behind back-to-back three pointers. The Triton defense remained strong in the early going, forcing five turnovers in the first six minutes of play. UC San Diego found its rhythm offensively in the back half of the period after a jumper by Rose and five consecutive points by Ma to give the Tritons their first lead, 11-10. After UOP went back up 17-11, UC San Diego closed out strong down the stretch with key plays from Fairwell and Condron to make it 21-19 in favor of the Tigers at the first quarter break.
 
With the Tigers leading 24-19 early in the second quarter, Mahan knocked down a three-pointer and Rose followed with a three-point play of her own to give UC San Diego the lead once again, 25-24. The teams knotted at 29-all with two minutes to play, before a three by Feiman gave the Tritons a 32-29 halftime advantage. UC San Diego forced 14 turnovers in the first half, while committing just three of their own.
 
The teams traded the lead to begin the second half, battling to a 38-38 tie midway through the third quarter. The Tigers then put together a 12-4 scoring run—highlighted by three three-pointers—to create distance, 50-42, with 1:29 on the clock. Maxie scored four points for UC San Diego down the stretch but Pacific still took a 53-46 lead into the final quarter break.
 
UC San Diego scored five unanswered to open the final period, making it a one-possession game, 53-51. After a 12-3 scoring run by the home team, it looked as if the game was out of reach for the Tritons, 67-56, with under a minute to play. UC San Diego rallied one final time, scoring nine points in the final 35 seconds, but the Tritons were unable to complete the comeback. Pacific ultimately took the season-opener 69-66. 
 
QUOTABLE
"Tonight we really competed for 40 minutes," said UC San Diego head coach Heidi VanDerveer. "I really loved our energy and our effort, mixing in a lot of new players, and remaining aggressive defensively. We created 25 turnovers and got 13 more shots, but we just couldn't find the basket. I think we felt a little bit rushed and just had a bit of nervous energy for the first game. I'm very excited about the potential of this team and very proud of how we competed to the final buzzer against a very good Pacific team."
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• UC San Diego held the advantage in points off of turnovers (26-7), second chance points (16-9), points in the paint (34-20) and turnovers forced (25-9). Pacific had the edge in three-pointers (12-4), rebounds (46-29), assists (15-10) and bench points (23-9).
• With the loss, the Tritons moved to 0-1 in the all-time series with Pacific.
• UC San Diego starters were Erin Condron, Lev Feiman, Sabrina Ma, Dymonique Maxie and Makayla Rose. 
  • It was the first collegiate start for Condron and Feiman and first as a Triton for Maxie and Rose. 

 
UP NEXT
The Tritons return to La Jolla for their home opener on Friday against Denver at 6 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.