The UCSD women’s basketball team went into this weekend with a strong record of 10-7 and 6-6 in conference play, but struggled on the road when it dropped two games to division opponents.
On Feb. 1, the Tritons traveled north to San Francisco State University, looking to extend their winning streak to six games.
As the first half played out, nothing seemed to be dropping for the Tritons while they made 10 out of 33 attempts. The SFSU team shot a superior 12 of 29 attempts, totaling 41.4 percent from the field.
The telling stat in the first half was that the Tritons went 0-10 from three-point land. Yet at the end of the first half, UCSD was only down by six points at 28-22.
The second half was more competitive, and UCSD and SFSU exchanged leads throughout the game. Yet the Tritons could only shoot another 10-33 from the field while the Gators shot an extraordinary 54.5 percent on 12 makes of 22 attempts.
Each team made two threes in the second half and attempted six free throws. Down the stretch, the Tritons just couldn’t handle the balanced scoring attack from the home team. The bench from SFSU out-scored UCSD’s bench, 22-4, which was pivotal down the stretch. At the end of the game, San Francisco pulled away to win 57-48.
Sophomore Ali Ginn was the leading scorer for the Tritons with 14 points while adding nine rebounds to their total. Senior Maya Fok added nine points and three assists for UCSD.
For SFSU, the scoring was very balanced with four players earning eight points or more. Kelley Kruger was the leading scorer for the Gators with 12 points and nine assists. Sharee Sykes added four points and eight rebounds to lead all the players on the boards.
The next day, the Tritons’ second game of the roadtrip featured an amazing comeback effort by Sonoma State University to defeat the Tritons, 54-49.
The UCSD women’s basketball team came out hot, making 10 of 24 attempts in the first 20 minutes of play. Sonoma State wasn’t spectacular in the first half but played well to trail only by 10 points going into halftime. The team made seven out of 20 shots (35 percent) with surprisingly no three-point attempts in the entire first half.
The second half was not what UCSD expected when it let Sonoma State penetrate and drive to the basket, which ultimately ended in free-throw attempts. Sonoma shot 27 free-throws and made 22, an impressive 81 percent from the line. UCSD made eight of 30 shots and an impressive three of eight from the three-point line. Sonoma State was still dismal from the field, making six of 22 shots, but the free-throw line was the pivotal element that got the Gators a lead they would not relinquish.
Again, the bench from the opposing team outscored UCSD, and in this case, it was a 23-11 advantage for Sonoma State. In the end, UCSD couldn’t overcome the shooting display put on by Sonoma from the free-throw line, and the home team won 54-49 in a tough battle.
Senior center Danyiel Wortham led the Tritons with 14 points and six rebounds, while Ginn added 12 points for the cause. Elizabeth Carr led Sonoma State with 12 points off the bench, which contributed greatly to the victory. UCSD dropped to 10-9 on the season and 6-8 in conference play.
The next game for the Tritons will be Feb. 8 against California State University Stanislaus.
