Tritons' Magical Season Halted in NCAA West Region Semifinals
NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Interactive Bracket
Originally posted on ucsdtritons.com | Box score
LA JOLLA, Calif. — The University of California San Diego women’s basketball team’s magical season came to an end on Saturday night, as the Tritons suffered their first loss of the season to Azusa Pacific, 64-61, in the NCAA West Region Semifinals at RIMAC Arena.
Junior forward Haleigh Hatfield led the way with 14 points and 14 rebounds, junior guard Sydney Sharp made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points, senior guard Joleen Yang scored 11 points and was spectacular on the defensive end, while senior guard Kayla Sato finished with nine points and eight rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
After beginning the 2018-19 season the program’s best all-time record, UC San Diego (30-1) made a furious late come-back attempt that fell just short. The Tritons trailed by as many as 14 in the third quarter, but rallied to pull within two after consecutive 3-pointers by freshman Brianna Claros with under a minute remaining.
However, Azusa Pacific’s Daylee Hanson made a driving layup at the other end to push the led to four, 61-57 with 19.8 seconds to go. UC San Diego senior guard Joleen Yangmade two free throws at the other end cutting the deficit to two, and APU’s Samantha Huddleston made two clutch free throws at the other end to make it a four-point game with just seconds remaining.
One night after making 15 3-point field goals in a quarterfinal win over Dominican, the Tritons made 14 on Saturday — including all eight of its field goals in the first half.
UC San Diego won 30-consecutive games to begin the season, won the CCAA Tournament championship for the first time since 2012-13 and earned the conference regular-season title for the fourth-straight year.