On Dec. 6, UC San Diego women’s basketball (6-4, 1-0 Big West) won its first game of conference play against Long Beach State (0-9, 0-2 Big West) 75-45 at LionTree Arena. Redshirt junior guard Rosa Smith stole the spotlight, racking up 27 points in her highest-scoring game as a Triton.
“Rosa is fun to see because I know Rosa’s struggled with injuries — she’s had a couple surgeries,” head coach Heidi VanDerveer said in a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian. “It’s great to see her come back and play with not just great energy, but with some bounce.”
Coming off of a win against Portland State, the Tritons played with confidence. After two and a half minutes of playing time, the Tritons took the lead and never looked back. Senior guard Sabrina Ma scored the Tritons’ first 3 points, and Smith’s beautiful buzzer-beating 3-pointer ended the first quarter with a bang, increasing the Tritons’ lead to 23-7.
“I thought we came in with a great pace, great purpose, and tried to sustain intensity and competitiveness for 40 minutes,” VanDerveer said. “I thought we got off to a great start. I think we’ve evolved over the last month or so here, and we’ve seen tremendous progress. I love to see hard work pay off, and our hard work is paying off.”
The Beach were in possession of the ball heading into the second quarter, only for Smith to steal it within two seconds — a not-so-subtle foreshadowing of the Beach’s 10 turnovers in the quarter. While neither team managed to sink a single 3-pointer, the Tritons recovered five offensive rebounds — their most in the game. Leveraging their strong offense and smooth defense, the Tritons closed the first half with a 39-16 advantage.
Down 23, the Beach attempted a comeback in the third quarter. They put up 16 points — their highest-scoring quarter all game — but ultimately couldn’t close the gap. While Smith continued to make scoring look easy, her chemistry with junior center Erin Condron turned the game into a dazzling performance. The dynamic duo led the team in points scored.
“Erin is an amazing player, and she makes me look good, and she’s fun to play with — she’s so smart,” Smith said to The Guardian. “Today, they were doubling off her, so she found me a lot, and you know, I love to give her the ball too. I think we have a great friendship.”
Condron scored 7 points in the third quarter and finished the game with a career-best 19 points. The Tritons advanced to the fourth quarter with a 29-point lead.
Condron kicked things off in the fourth quarter with a turnover-turned-layup in the first 25 seconds. With under four minutes left in the game, the Tritons built a 37-point advantage, their largest of the night. The massive lead gave freshmen guard Michaela Fairwell, forward Tatum Jones, and forward Niya Price some valuable playing time, with Fairwell and Price both managing to score. Closing the game with a final score of 75-45, the Tritons earned their first conference win of the season with a commanding 30-point lead.
“We’re just finding our flow; we did a really great job of sharing the ball today — a lot of assists,” Smith said. “We got open shots today; it was really good.”
After a rough 2-3 start, the Tritons seem to have found their rhythm. Now, with nine games under their belt, the Tritons are over .500, going 4-1 in their last five games with their only loss coming on the road against No. 22 Washington.
On Monday, Dec. 15, the Tritons defeated Cal Baptist 67-59 to extend their win streak to three. They will face Northern Arizona at home on Saturday, Dec. 20.
