WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ‘mdash; Suffering their first conference loss of the season, the No. 10 Tritons split their games over the weekend, picking up a 63-57 win over Cal Poly Pomona on Feb. 13 before falling 64-59 to Cal State San Bernardino on Feb. 14. The upset shocked the California Collegiate Athletic Association, as the Coyotes had just come off a nine-game losing streak three nights prior. Despite the loss, UCSD maintains first place, standing atop the CCAA with a 15-1 mark in conference play and a 22-3 overall record.
One of the keys to the Tritons’ success this season has been their ability to establish early, dominating leads. Against the Coyotes, however, the Tritons failed to execute in the early minutes, battling in a tight game from the start. UCSD trailed 17-24 with just under four minutes to play before a layup by freshman guard Chelsea Carlisle and a triple by junior guard Annette Ilg brought the Tritons to within two. Each time the Tritons scored, Coyote senior forward Jaclyn Rainville nailed a three while sophomore guard Lisa Takata notched a jumper. But a layup and free throw by senior center Alexis Gaskin kept UCSD within two at 27-29 entering halftime.’
‘Girls who aren’t usually shooting threats were hitting threes right and left,’ Osier said of the Cal State San Bernardino players. ‘Unlike Friday night, our defense just wasn’t there.’
Cal State San Bernardino’s largest lead came with 7:56 on the clock, when Coyote junior guard Ana Onaindia hit a three pointer to make the score 51-42. Over the next several minutes, UCSD went on a 12-7 run to cut its deficit to 58-54. But with only 41 seconds left, it proved too little too late: the Tritons, forced to foul, gave the Coyotes their final six points in free throws.
‘[Cal State San Bernardino] came out ready to play and it was a good reminder for us that if we don’t show up ready to play, we can and will get beat,’ head coach Charity Elliott said. All the credit goes to San Bernardino ‘mdash; they played a great game.’
The Tritons finished 21-for-60, and although they outscored the Coyotes 36-20 in the paint, Cal State San Bernardino dominated bench play, toppling UCSD 18-1. ‘ Gaskin scored a game-high 22 points and hauled in 10 rebounds; senior forward Michelle Osier also finished in double figures, tallying 12 points and 10 boards. Carlisle and junior guard Leilani Martin contributed 11 and 10 points apiece.
‘Although we’re disappointed, we can learn a lot from this loss,’ Osier said. ‘Even though we’ve been successful, we’ve got a lot to work on. Our strength offensively is that we are all scoring threats. We make it difficult for teams to scout us because someone different steps up every night. ‘hellip; But we all know that against great teams and during the postseason, that isn’t going
to cut it. We’ve got to all be on our game every night if we want to continue to be successful.’
More characteristic to form, the Tritons seized victory over the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos on Friday evening. Six Triton players reached double figures in the effort to achieve the team’s 15th consecutive win ‘mdash; a streak that has only been set twice in school history. Trailing closely for most of the second half, the Tritons tied the game at 42 with a jumper from Martin with 12:34 on the clock. Surging ahead, UCSD then fired off a 17-8 run, clutching the largest advantage of the game when Carlisle nailed a triple, giving the Tritons a 59-50 lead with two minutes remaining. The Broncos, who failed to score any three-pointers in the second period, suffered against a well-executed Triton defense. UCSD capitalized 20 points off 14 Cal Poly Pomona turnovers, stifling the Broncos’ chances for points off free throws as Cal Poly Pomona shot only 20 percent from the line in the second.
Martin went 5-for-6 from the field, leading the Triton scorers with 14 points. Ilg and Osier followed with 13 points; Carlisle notched 12 while Gaskin pitched in 10.
‘Friday night was a tough fight against a very good Cal Poly Pomona team and I was really proud of how our team came out and played hard for 40 minutes,’ Elliott said. ‘Against Pomona, it was our team defense that made the difference ‘mdash; we were OK offensively, but our defense won the game for us.’
This week, the Tritons will host two of their remaining four conference games at home. UCSD will face San Francisco State on Feb. 20 for Spirit Night. The Gators are in eighth place with a 6-10 record in conference and 12-11 overall. At last year’s Spirit Night, UCSD claimed a 64-58 victory over San Francisco State.
‘I know that we will learn the lessons needed and we will come back out for practice this week with a new focus and energy,’ Elliott said. ‘We all get so excited about Spirit Night and I can’t wait to see all the students out supporting both the men’s and women’s teams. It’s a great night for the entire student body and we are going to do all we can to make them proud.’
Readers can contact Brianna Lee at [email protected].