![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SUT-L-womenshoopssdsu-1012-049.jpg\")
San Diego State players participate in drills during practice at Viejas Arena on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\nSan Diego State<\/p>\n
Veteran head coaches Stacie Terry-Hutson (San Diego State) and Heidi VanDerveer (UC San Diego) led their teams to conference tournament championships and NCAA Tournament berths last season, while the area\u2019s third Division I program changed head coaches after a 7-23 season.<\/p>\n
But incoming University of Diego coach Blanche Alverson already has several things in common with her peers across town.<\/p>\n
One, they knew one another long before Alverson came to USD.<\/p>\n
Two, each is rebuilding to a degree as the 2025-2026 season rapidly approaches.<\/p>\n
This is not surprising for Alverson, who came to USD after serving Georgia Tech as a top assistant for six seasons. She brought in five freshmen and two transfers who figure prominently in the Toreros\u2019 plans.<\/p>\n
But both the Aztecs and Tritons have expected and unexpected vacancies to fill.<\/p>\n
Not only did San Diego State graduate its three regular bigs \u2013 Kim Villalobos, Adryana Quezada and Cali Clark \u2013 from the Aztecs\u2019 Mountain West Tournament champions, point guard and leading scorer Veronica Sheffey transferred through the portal to TCU.<\/p>\n
And while UCSD returns three key regulars from the 20-16 team that won the Big West Tournament during its first season of eligibility, the Tritons saw Big West Tourney MVP Sumayah Sugapong (La Jolla Country Day) \u2014 also the team\u2019s leader in scoring, assists and steals \u2014 transfer to the University of Arizona.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we\u2019re returning several talented holdovers from last year\u2019s USD roster, it\u2019s like we have 14 new players,\u201d Alverson said earlier this week. \u201cThose who aren\u2019t totally new to the school are new to me and what we\u2019re doing. We had a lot of introductions.\u201d<\/p>\n
But introductions weren\u2019t necessary between newcomer Alverson and VanDerveer (entering her 14th season as head coach at UCSD) and Terry-Hutson (in her 13th season with the Aztecs).<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve known Stacie for a long time. We have multiple connections,\u201d said Alverson. \u201cStacie has been very supportive. And Heidi is a great friend. My head coach at Georgia Tech (Nell Fortner) knows them both. I view them as great supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a look at San Diego\u2019s three Division I women\u2019s basketball programs:<\/p>\n
San Diego State players participate in drills during practice at Viejas Arena on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nSan Diego State<\/p>\n
2024-25 record:<\/strong> 25-10, won Mountain West Conference Tournament.<\/p>\n Key returnees:<\/strong> Naomi Panganiban (La Jolla Country Day; 5-7, soph. G, 10.3 ppg), Nat Martinez (5-7, soph., G; 7.4 ppg), Bailey Barnhard (Del Norte High; 6-1, soph., F; 2.0 ppg), Kaelyn Hamilton (5-9, soph., G, 2.7 ppg).<\/p>\n Top newcomers:<\/strong> Nala Williams (5-8, Sr., PG; transfer from Cal State Dominguez Hills where she was NCAA Division II National Player of the Year and National Defensive Player of the Year last season), CJ Latta (G, 5-10, Soph; transfer from Utah State), Maria Konstaninidou (Jr., 6-2, F; transfer from Fresno State), Sofia Kelemeni (6-0, Sr., G\/F; treansfer from San Jose State), Kennedy Lee (Sr, 6-0, F; transfer from Nevada).<\/p>\n Overview:<\/strong> Hutson says last season \u201cchanged the standard for the Aztecs,\u201d who will run a three and four-guard offense. \u201cWe\u2019re going to play faster this season,\u201d she said. \u201cLast year, we were post-oriented. This season will be a long process. There will be bumps along the way. But there\u2019s solid talent.\u201d<\/p>\n Season opener:<\/strong> Nov. 3 vs. UCLA in Anaheim<\/p>\n UC San Diego<\/p>\n 2024-2025 record:<\/strong> 20-16, Won Big West Tournament.<\/p>\n Key returnees:<\/strong> Sabrina Ma (5-10, Sr., G, 10.0 ppg), Gracie Gallegos (6-1, Jr., G, 9.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg), Erin Condron (6-4, F\/C, Jr., 8.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg), Junae Mahan (5-8, Jr., G, 4.7 ppg).<\/p>\n Top newcomers:<\/strong> Makayla Rose (5-7, Sr., G; transfer from UC Riverside where she was the Big West Defensive Player of the Year, 9.2 ppg), Dymonique Maxie (5-8, Jr., G; transfer from Nevada, 7.2 ppg).<\/p>\n Overview:<\/strong> In addition to Sugapong, the Tritons lost versatile guard Parker Montgomery (Big West All-Tournament Team) and single-season, Division I rebound record holder Kayanna Spriggs to graduation from the 2024-2025 team. Tritons have also added four freshmen in guards Lev Feiman and Michaela Fairwell and forwards Tatum Jones and Niya Price.<\/p>\n Season opener:<\/strong> Nov. 3 at Pacific<\/p>\n 2024-2025 record:<\/strong> 7-23<\/p>\n Key returnees:<\/strong> Malia Tharpe (6-0, Jr., F; 3.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg), Dresha Moore (6-0, Soph., F, 4.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg), Erica Carr (6-3, Soph., F\/C), Eva Ruse (6-2, Soph.,F) and twins Jayden and Hallie Rhodes (5-11, G, Srs.).<\/p>\n Top newcomers:<\/strong> Kylie Ray (5-8, Soph. PG; transfer from Utah), Helen Holley (6-1, Soph., F; transfer from Michigan State), Olivia Owens (5-10, Fr., G), Ayla Williams (6-0, Fr., F), Jessica Ajayi (5-10, Fr., G), Ysabella Von Seipler (5-10, Fr., G), Ryanne Bahnsen-Price (6-0, Fr., F).<\/p>\n Overview:<\/strong> New Toreros head coach Blanche Alverson added five freshmen and 2 transfers. \u201cOur speed and athleticism are our strengths,\u201d said Alverson. \u201cWe also have good depth and a lot of versatile players.\u201d What the Toreros lack is size and experience. At least three freshmen will be in the regular mix. Carr and Ruse were injured last year. Alverson expects Tharpe to have a strong year and she and Moore could return as starters.<\/p>\n Season opener:<\/strong> Nov. 3 vs. Bethesda<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Originally Published: October 11, 2025 at 5:12 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran head coaches Stacie Terry-Hutson (San Diego State) and Heidi VanDerveer (UC San Diego) led their teams to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":295959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1369,1370,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-295958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-sports","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaabasketball","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115358360659093548","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"USD](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SUT-L-womenshoops-1012-006.jpg\")
USD coach Blanche Alverson looks on during practice at the Basketball Performance Center on campus on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nUSD<\/p>\n