Not long ago, UC San Diego women’s basketball made short bus trips from La Jolla to San Marcos for CCAA rivalry games with CSUSM. Friday morning, on college basketball’s biggest stage, the destination was different, but the journey felt the same.
For the first time since moving up to Division I, the Tritons posted back-to-back 20-win seasons — a milestone they reached 13 of 15 seasons during their Division II era.
Days after a 60-48 win over Hawai‘i secured a second straight Big West championship, No. 14-seed UCSD opened NCAA Tournament play at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, against No. 3-seed TCU, marking its second consecutive March Madness appearance in only its second year eligible at the Division I level.
“We have really set the standard these past two years,” UCSD senior guard Sabrina Ma said. “It’s only going up from here. I hope my impact and leadership has helped the younger girls continue this legacy we’ve built.”
“As an individual, it means nothing to me, honestly,” UCSD head coach Heidi VanDerveer said after winning the Big West tournament. “The joy of watching young women set a goal and achieve a goal is phenomenal. It makes me so happy. I’d say proud, but it’s really happiness for them because this is something they can carry with them.”
But TCU was another story. Led by the potent combination of guard Olivia Miles and forward Marta Suarez, TCU (29-5) entered the matinee as a 34.5-point favorite over UC San Diego (24-8).
After winning the tip, the Horned Frogs opened the scoring with a three-pointer. UCSD junior low-post standout Erin Condron answered with a 10-foot jumper from the right baseline, but that would be the last moment the game was competitive.
TCU steadily pulled away, leading 11-2, 32-12, 46-15, and eventually 86-40, ending the Tritons’ season.
“I don’t know if the score indicated how hard we played,” VanDerveer said. “The basket got big for them, and they are an excellent team. They have a tremendous point guard, shooters that spread us out, bigs inside—a very complete team. I’m not sure we could grasp the size and quickness of Olivia Miles.”
“From the jump, I thought our energy, enthusiasm and spirit were at an elite level,” TCU head coach Mark Campbell said. “Our defensive effort, defending the three, making it hard for them to score, getting out in transition — we really were able to get into a rhythm.”
Condron led UCSD with 12 points, while guards Ma and Rosa Smith each added seven. Freshman Lev Feiman’s six points accounted for all of the Tritons’ reserve scoring.
“We have a really special team,” Ma said. “The chemistry and bond we’ve built has been on and off the court.”
For TCU, 6-foot-1 guard Taylor Bigby — who came into the game averaging seven points, often overlooked behind Miles and Suarez — emerged as the unsung hero. Bigby led the Horned Frogs with 27 points, shooting 8-of-10 from the floor, including 7-of-9 from three-point range.
Miles was held to 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting but set career highs with 16 rebounds and 14 assists.
“It was kind of like pick your poison,” VanDerveer said. “Olivia Miles will be a top-four WNBA draft pick, and Suarez is a challenge for any team. I read an article about Bigby making 500 threes a day—we saw somebody whose hard work paid off.”
“It’s contagious when [Bigby is] hitting threes,” Miles said. “When we play with that type of effort and camaraderie on both ends of the floor, it’s hard to stop us.”
“I’m not going to say I blacked out, but I was just playing with my team. I wasn’t playing to get 27 tonight,” Bigby said. “They just kept finding me, and it was in the flow of our offense.”
Reflecting on the season, VanDerveer added, “If you only focus on the result, the process would not be worthwhile. Our team looked at the season holistically and really enjoyed the growth—some pain is involved. This is painful. It’s more about the journey than the destination.”
