UC San Diego’s second straight Big West championship season in women’s basketball came to a decisive end Friday in Fort Worth, Texas.
Third-seeded TCU, playing on its Schollmaier Arena home court where it has now won 43 straight games, routed the 13th-seeded Tritons 86-40 in a first-round NCAA Tournament game.
The 14th-ranked Horned Frogs got a triple-double from guard Olivia Miles and double-doubles from two other players as they led wire-to-wire. TCU improved to 30-5 while UCSD’s season ended at 24-9.
“I’m very proud of my team,” said UCSD coach Heidi VanDerveer. “We’ve only been eligible for two NCAA tournaments (as a Division I program), and we made two. We’re at the start. It’s more about the journey than the destination.”
But the reality Friday was that UCSD was no match for a deep and talented TCU team that is also the tallest in the nation. TCU out-rebounded the Tritons, 56-28 The Horned Frogs blocked 10 UCSD shots.
“We’re not that big, and that was a problem,” said VanDerveer, whose team was out-rebounded 56-28 and had 10 shots blocked.
The Tritons were in trouble from the game’s first possession. The Horned Frogs hit their first four shots — three coming from 3-point range — and jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead. TCU expanded the margin to 15-4, 24-12 (at the end of the first quarter), 34-12 and 48-15.
The Tritons actually scored the last 10 points of the first half to make it 48-25 at intermission. But the hosts again dominated the second half and closed out the game on a 19-0 run.
Miles, a senior transfer from Notre Dame and a projected top-five pick in the WNBA draft, finished with 12 points, 16 rebounds and a TCU single-game record 14 assists — which was one shy of the NCAA Tournament record. It was her sixth triple-double of the season. She opened the game with assists on three of TCU’s first four baskets.
Taylor Bigby led TCU in scoring with 27 points, going 7-for-9 on 3-point attempts. Six-foot-7 center Clara Silva had 13 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. Marta Suarez, another projected first-round WNBA draft pick, had 11 points and 10 assists. And reserve guard Veronica Sheffey, a transfer from San Diego State, was a fifth Horned Frog scoring in double figures with 12 as TCU reached 30 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time in school history.
“They have a lot of talent,” said VanDerveer. “It’s pick your poison.”
“It’s hard to stop us,” said Miles.
Forward Erin Condron led UCSD with 12 points and six rebounds. Guard Sabrina Ma had seven points, six rebounds and three assists. Guard Rosa Smith also had seven points.
Makayla Rose, the Most Valuable Player of the Big West Tournament and the Big West defensive player of the year, spoke about her only season at UCSD.
“I knew this was a special program when I transferred in,” said Rose. “It’s a program where we’re all out to grow on and off the court. None of us are the same player or person who we were when we came into the program. I cherish every single minute I shared with my teammates and my coaching staff.”
VanDerveer said the rules of the women’s NCAA Tournament make it harder for lower-seeded teams. The top four seeds in each regional play the first two rounds of the tournament at home. A No. 14 seed has never beaten a No. 3 seed in 120-plus games since the tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 1994.
