HONOLULU—UC San Diego women's basketball defeated Hawai'i, 65-54, on Saturday evening in Stan Sheriff Center. After trailing in the opening quarter, the Tritons (8-5, 3-0 Big West) rallied to win each of the final three periods and top the Rainbow Wahine (6-8, 0-4 Big West) for their third straight conference win.
 
Four Tritons scored in double figures, led by Erin Condron with 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and one steal. Rosa Smith and Sabrina Ma finished with 14 and 13 points respectively, with Smith tallying four assists and one steal and Ma collecting three steals and a team-best six rebounds. Lev Feiman provided a spark off the bench, tallying 10 points. Dymonique Maxie led the team with six assists and four steals, while chipping in eight points as well. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams traded baskets early in the opening quarter before the Rainbow Wahine put together a six-point scoring run to create distance, 11-6. The Tritons outscored UH, 5-2 in the final three minutes including a jumper at the buzzer by Condron to make it 16-13 at the first quarter break.
 
An early three by Feiman in the second quarter, followed by a steal and score by Maxie pulled the Tritons within one, 19-18. Hawai'i built its lead back midway through the quarter, 23-18, but another three from Feiman sparked a 15-3 scoring run for the visitors. Ma knocked down a pair of threes in the stretch to give UC San Diego a 33-26 advantage with under four minutes to play in the half. The Tritons continued to apply pressure on the defensive end and took a 35-29 lead into the halftime intermission.
 
Feiman provided a spark off the bench, scoring 10 points in the first half, while Condron led the team with 11 points.
 
UC San Diego opened the second half with a pair of threes from Smith and the Tritons scored eight unanswered to pull ahead, 46-33. Hawai'i found success late in the quarter, putting together an 8-0 scoring run to make it 46-41 with under 20 second on the clock. Ma hit a corner three in the final seconds to put UC San Diego back up, 49-41, with one quarter to play.
 
Rose stole the inbound pass on the opening play of the fourth period to score and give UC San Diego a double-digit advantage once again, 51-41. Hawai'i then rallied with a 6-0 scoring run to make it, 51-47, midway through the quarter. However, the Rainbow Wahine were unable to pull any closer. Smith ended the run with a pivotal three-pointer with just under six minutes to play and Maxie recorded her own three-point play with 3:13 remaining to extend the lead back to ten, 59-49. The Tritons handled their free throws down the stretch to secure the 65-54 victory.
 
QUOTABLE
"Obviously, very excited about a tremendous team win," said UC San Diego head coach Heidi VanDerveer. "I think that we came out with a lot of effort and energy, and played in a very tough environment. We had people step up and make big plays and got great contributions with four people in double figures. I thought we played with tremendous poise and weathered some of Hawai'i's runs to come away with a big road win in a very competitive Big West."
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Four Tritons scored in double figures for the fifth time this season.
  • Erin Condron led the Tritons' offensive efforts for the fifth time this season.
• UC San Diego had the advantage in steals (12-7), assists (15-8), turnovers forced (24-12), bench points (10-6) and points off turnovers (16-15), while Hawai'i had the edge in second chance points (7-3) and rebounds (38-28). Points in the paint (20-20) and fast break points (8-8) were even.
• The Tritons are now 5-5 in the all-time series with Hawai'i. 
• UC San Diego starters were Erin Condron, Sabrina Ma, Dymonique Maxie, Makayla Rose and Rosa Smith.

 
UP NEXT
UC San Diego will travel to face Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, Jan. 8 and host UC Riverside on Saturday, Jan. 10. 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 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.