Slow start ends Aggie women's basketball season in 75-66 loss to UC San Diego
Tritons lead from start to finish to claim Big West Tournament title and NCAA bid
HENDERSON, NEVADA ... "San Diego was better than we were today," said Aggie women's basketball head coach Jen Gross after UC Davis fell, 75-66, in the championship game of the Big West tournament Saturday afternoon in Lee's Family Forum.
The loss drops the Aggies to 21-12 for the season, while UC San Diego is 20-15 as it awaits its pairing for the NCAA tournament.
"It hurts," Gross added at her post-game press conference.
"I'm heartbroken for our team. I really thought we could do it, but it was a tough day for us. We got off to a rough start and just couldn't find the basket."
Indeed, the Aggies didn't find the basket at all for six full minutes as the Tritons raced to a 9-0 lead before Megan Norris banged home a 3-pointer from the left corner for the first UCD points.
Unfortunately for Aggie fortunes, those first six minutes were indicative of what was to come as the Tritons used a suffocating defense and ice-cold Aggie shooting to take a 34-21 lead at half.
UCD converted just 22.6 percent of its field goal attempts in the opening 20 minutes.
"If we could have gotten some of our early shots to fall, it might have been a different game," Gross added.
"I want to congratulate UC San Diego for how they played. We have a close relationship with their coaching staff and I know they are going to represent the Big West well in the tournament and I'll be cheering them on."
Things didn't get any better for the Aggies after the intermission as the Tritons continued to pound the ball inside to Gracie Gallegos, who led all scorers with 24 points and added eight rebounds and three assists to her afternoon's work.
UCSD enjoyed its biggest lead of the night at 50-31 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter and remained comfortably ahead the rest of the way.
The Aggies did throw up an effective full-court press down the stretch to cut the deficit to 68-58 on a layup by Victoria Baker with 1:03 remaining, but it was too little too late.
Aggie stars Tova Sabel and Megan Norris were named to the all-tournament team, while UCSD's Sumayah Sugapong was deservedly picked as the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Although the Aggies fell one game short of an NCAA berth, Gross remains hopeful that UCD might get a bid to the Women's NIT after the NCAA pairings are announced.
Despite a clearly painful loss, the Aggie coach put things in perspective for her players.
"I really love my team," Gross said.
"I hoped they would be celebrating today and it hurts when it doesn't happen. Winning this tournament is not easy, but we couldn't ever get into a run. I'm really proud that we were still fighting at the end.
"I told everyone in the locker room that it's never about one game. One game, win or lose, will never define us. The foundation of our program is relationships, and five or ten years from now they're not going to remember a win or a loss in a particular game, but they will remember all the great memories they had with their teammates.
"Whether you cut down the nets or not, you will always remember those relationships."
Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com
This is a special Aggie team, up and down the bench. Jen Gross said all that needed to be said about this amazing group, and her approach to coaching, which is universlly recognized throughout the sport of women’s basketball. It’s an honor to be a fan.