Denver<\/a> last week, UCSD looked to defeat the Hornets in hopes of winning back-to-back games for the first time this season. Unfortunately, the Tritons found themselves down for almost the entirety of the match and were unable to mount a comeback.<\/p>\nIn the first quarter, UCSD\u2019s offense stalled, shooting just 13.3% from the field and scoring only 5 points from field goals. Fortunately, overaggressive defense by Sacramento State frequently put UCSD at the free-throw line, where it took advantage and went 5 of 8 in the period.<\/p>\n
Defensively, the Tritons guarded Sacramento State very closely, giving up only 10 first-quarter points. Averaging 13.5 steals per game across its first two contests, UCSD stuck to double-teaming the ball handler, forcing three first-quarter steals and causing the Hornets to commit eight turnovers. Tight defense by UCSD on the perimeter allowed no points from outside the paint and forced the Hornets to drive inside. However, Sacramento State took what it was given and scored 8 points from close range.<\/p>\n
Disaster struck in the second quarter when the Tritons were unable to defend Sacramento\u2019s shot-making ability from downtown. UCSD\u2019s two previous opponents had a combined 3-point percentage of 32.7%, but the Hornets went 7 for 7 from beyond the arc on their way to scoring 25 points in the second quarter. Offensively, UCSD could not match Sacramento State\u2019s near-perfect quarter \u2014 the Tritons went 1 of 2 from three and just 4 of 11 from the field and found themselves down 35-19 at the half.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, in the second quarter, we gave some of their better shooters open looks,\u201d head coach Heidi VanDerveer told The UCSD Guardian in a postgame interview. \u201cWe have to learn, we have to get better, we have to improve. \u2026 We give great effort, but we have to add to that some discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the deficit, UCSD looked to come back in the second half. At the start of the third quarter, senior guard Sabrina Ma, who averages 12 points per game, scored a quick 2 points over two defenders, bringing her to a total of 6 points against the Hornets. Ma then scored another 5 points to help the Tritons inch closer to Sacramento State.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re counting on Sabrina to be really consistent for us, both offensively and defensively,\u201d VanDerveer said. \u201cSabrina\u2019s a great leader, and I expect her to continue to improve and continue to help our young team.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Tritons also returned to their first-quarter form defensively. They guarded the perimeter well, forcing the Hornets to shoot contested 3-pointers or drive to the basket. Unable to make its shots, Sacramento State went 0 for 6 from deep, which shortened its lead to 7 points by the end of the third quarter. However, UCSD\u2019s inability to guard the paint \u2014 a common theme of the game \u2014 allowed Sacramento State to score all 12 of its third-quarter points. UCSD entered the last 10 minutes down 47-40.<\/p>\n
At the start of the fourth quarter, a quick 3-pointer from redshirt junior guard Rosa Smith and a drive by junior guard Dymonique Maxie brought UCSD within two. Despite the Tritons\u2019 newfound momentum, they were unable to take a lead. Instead, Sacramento State controlled the fourth quarter; with two minutes left, the team extended its lead to seven once again, forcing the Tritons to purposefully foul and put the Hornets at the line. Sacramento State made 11 of 14 free throws in the quarter, which proved to be too much for the Tritons to overcome \u2014 they ultimately dropped 71-60 to the Hornets.<\/p>\n
Sitting at 1-2 to start the season, UCSD will hit the road to take on San Francisco on Sunday, Nov. 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Wednesday, Nov. 12, UC San Diego women\u2019s basketball (1-2, 0-0 Big West) fell to Sacramento State (3-1,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[34748,34749,121,123,122,30495],"class_list":["post-56105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-rosa-smith","tag-sabrina-ma","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-womens-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}