Sophomore guard Sumayah Sugapong hit a driving layup in the final second Friday afternoon to defeat top-seeded Hawaii 51-49 and put UC San Diego in the Big West Conference Tournament women’s championship game in their first season of Division I eligibility.
Fourth-seeded UC San Diego (19-15) will play third-seeded UC Davis (22-11) at 3 p.m. Saturday in Henderson, Nev. UC Davis defeated the Tritons 69-58 last Saturday in the regular-season finale at LionTree arena to sweep the season series.
Sugapong’s game-winning shot turned back an incredible second-half rally by the Rainbow Wahine. Down by as many as 27 points in the first half, Hawaii (22-9) scored the first seven points of the third quarter then went on a 15-0 run as UCSD went scoreless for the first eight minutes of the second half.
Hawaii tied the game at 49-49 on a pair of free throws by Brooklyn Rewers with 1:20 to play.
With 10 seconds remaining, UCSD’s Gracie Gallegos stole the ball and the Tritons called a timeout to set up a final play for Sugapong. The game-winning shot was identical to one missed by Sugapong at the end of regulation time on Jan. 30, when the Tritons lost to Hawaii 65-63 in overtime at LionTree Arena.
“I beat myself up after that miss,” Sugapong said after Friday’s win. “This was the exact same shot. I was determined.”
“I’ve got to give credit to our team for withstanding their rallies,” UCSD coach Heidi VanDerveer said. “We learned to win this year.”
With fifth-year senior Parker Montgomery scoring 10 points (while going 2-for-3 from three-point range) UCSD led 22-4 at the end of the first quarter and stretched their lead to 39-12 with 1:58 to play in the first half.
“We knew we had to hit them first,” said Montgomery, who scored all 16 of her points in the first half.
But Hawaii, who byed into Friday’s semifinal and was rested, stormed back in the second half as the Tritons, who defeated Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo 59-54 Friday went cold. Hawaii out-scored UCSD 31-10 in the second half as UCSD went 5-for-27 from the floor and whiffed on all nine of their three-point shots.
“We got a little bit frantic in the second half,” said VanDerveer.
Added Sugapong: “It was tough for sure when they went on that run in the fourth quarter. During breaks, we’d tell each other ‘Calm down, we’re good, we’re good.’”
Sugapong scored UCSD’s first points in eight minutes and 51 seconds on a driving layup with 2:02 to play to put the Tritons ahead 49-44. She turned the ball over on UCSD’s next two possessions before driving for the game-winner.
Sugapong led all scorers with 17 points. Eric Condron came off the bench to score eight. Gallegos had four points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Sugapong, Montgomery and Sabrina Ma played all 40 minutes Friday while Gallegos sat for one minute. Condron and Kayana Spriggs split the time in the post. Parker played all but one minute Thursday while Sugapong sat out two, Gallegos four and Ma five.
“This tournament is our opportunity to show what we can do,” said Montgomery. “And we’re proving it right now.”
NCAA Division II Tournament
No. 6 Central Washington 74, Point Loma Nazarene 53: Central Washington (22-7) jumped out to leads of 21-4 after the first quarter and 39-12 at halftime and cruised to a 21-point win in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Women’s West Regionals in Carson. The season-ending loss ended the Sea Lions’ 10-game winning streak. PLNU finishes its season 25-6.
Eiley Tippins came off the bench to lead PLNU with 12 points. Point guard Kylee Byon had nine points and five assists. Alli McDonald had eight points and 12 rebounds and Tavia Rowell scored eight.
