UC San Diego women’s basketball achieved its first Big West regular season title with a 72-65 win over UC Santa Barbara at LionTree Arena. The Tritons, finishing the season with a 22-8 overall record and 17-3 in conference play, will share the championship with UC Irvine and enter the upcoming conference tournament as the No. 2 seed.
Makayla Rose led her team by scoring 25 points, making 10 of her 18 shots and recording four steals. Lev Feiman contributed 16 points, hitting eight of ten field goals and collecting two steals. Erin Condron scored 12 points and had eight rebounds to lead the team in that category. Dymonique Maxie added 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Maxie also set a new Division I season record for assists at UC San Diego with 136, while Condron established a new program Division I record for rebounds in a season with 255.
The game began with UC Santa Barbara building an early lead before UC San Diego responded to tie the score at the end of the first quarter. Both teams traded leads throughout the first half, with UCSB holding a slight advantage at halftime.
In the third quarter, UC San Diego put together a strong run to take control of the game but faced continued resistance from UCSB. Defensive pressure helped limit their opponent’s scoring opportunities, allowing just ten points in that period.
During the fourth quarter, both teams exchanged leads before Feiman’s layups and Rose’s late jumper gave UC San Diego enough separation to secure victory. Sabrina Ma closed out the game by making free throws in the final seconds.
UC San Diego head coach Heidi VanDerveer said: “It’s an understatement to say how proud I am and happy I am for our team,” adding, “We have a resilient group, we have people that battle regardless of the situation. It took our full team effort to accomplish this. It took someone like Makayla Rose coming here to win a championship, Dymonique Maxie coming here to win a championship. It took Sabrina Ma, Rosa Smith and Erin Condron, understanding what it means to win championships here. And then getting big minutes from Lev Feiman and Michaela Fairwell. The moment wasn’t too big. They took advantage of their opportunities, and they played to their strengths.
And obviously, our coaches prepare our team so well for these moments. This was Vanessa [Nygaard]’s scout and she did a great job of preparing and giving our team confidence. When PhyNique [Allen], Alex [Young], Britinee [Yasukochi] or Miranda [Seto] scout, that gives us confidence. I think our team understands how they need to play and how to take advantage of their strengths. And it was on full display tonight.”
With this result, UC San Diego moves on to compete in Henderson, Nevada as the No. 2 seed in next week’s Big West Championship tournament semifinals.
UC San Diego transitioned into NCAA Division I membership in The Big West Conference starting in 2020 after two decades competing successfully at NCAA Division II level across multiple sports programs.
