LA JOLLA, Calif.—UC San Diego women's basketball has released the 2026-27 Big West schedule, as announced by the conference. The reigning Big West Champions will begin defense of their second consecutive Big West title at home, playing host to newcomer California Baptist on Dec. 3. The Big West opening night will be a double-header with the Tritons men's basketball team in LionTree Arena. The Tritons will remain in La Jolla to host UC Irvine on Dec. 5 in a matchup between last season's Big West Regular Season Co-Champions.
With the expansion of the Big West to 12 teams, each conference member will play the other 11 teams twice over 22 dates. The 22-game round-robin schedule will see each team play a home-and-home series between Dec. 3 and March 6. The Big West Bold Week will take place Dec. 3-5 to kick off the Tritons' final season as a member of the Big West, maintaining a Thursday/Saturday competition format throughout the season.
The 2026-27 season marks the departure of Big West member schools Hawai'i and UC Davis, and the addition of California Baptist, Sacramento State and Utah Valley to the conference.
The Tritons will continue Big West play at home against Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 31) and Long Beach State (Jan. 2). UC San Diego will play five of the next six games on the road in the month of January, including Utah Valley (Jan. 7), Sacramento State (Jan. 9), California Baptist (Jan. 16), Long Beach State (Jan. 21) and Cal State Fullerton (Jan. 23).
The Tritons will host UC Riverside (Jan. 14) and wrap up the month at home against UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 28) and Cal Poly (Jan. 30).
February will be highlighted by home games against Sacramento State (Feb. 11) and Utah Valley (Feb. 13). The Tritons will also travel to face CSUN (Feb. 4), Cal State Bakersfield (Feb. 6), UC Riverside (Feb. 18), UC Irvine (Feb. 20), Cal Poly (Feb. 25) and UC Santa Barbara (Feb. 27).
The regular season will wrap up at home against Cal State Bakersfield (March 4) and Senior Day against CSUN (March 6).
The Big West Championships will take place March 10-13 at Lee's Family Forum in Henderson, Nev.
Last season, the Tritons went 24-9 overall and finished 17-3 in Big West play for a share of their first regular season conference title. Head coach
Heidi VanDerveer's squad went on to win the Big West Championship as the No. 2 Seed to become back-to-back tournament champions and punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. UC San Diego is just the second team in NCAA Division I women's basketball to make the tournament in its first two seasons of postseason eligibility after reclassifying from Division II.
UC San Diego will return seven Tritons from the 2025-26 championship squad, including All-Big West honorees
Erin Condron (First Team),
Lev Feiman (All-Freshman),
Dymonique Maxie, (Honorable Mention)
Rosa Smith (Honorable Mention). The Tritons will also add seven talented newcomers, including transfers
Alexandra Cummins (San Jose State),
Jite Gbemuotor (CSUN) and
Coryn Watts (Denver).
UC San Diego basketball season tickets are available online by logging on to
UCSDTritons.com/tickets, by calling (858) 534-1430, or by visiting the Triton Box Office in the Price Center on the UC San Diego campus between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, e-mail the box office at
triton-tix@ucsd.edu.
UC San Diego's non-conference schedule will be released at a later date.
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 has begun a new era in NCAA Division I. The 24-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 39 have garnered 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 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in NCAA Division I or II.
