Going into this past weekend’s games against CSU Dominguez Hills and CSU Los Angeles, the UCSD women’s basketball team had yet to win a game this season. With back-to-back wins over the weekend, the monkey has now been officially lifted from the team’s back.
On Jan. 10 against the CSU Dominguez Hills Toros, the Tritons got down early, trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half before cutting the deficit to 10 at halftime.
“”We started off the game sloppy,”” said sophomore forward Karina Siam. “”We started playing more zone defense and climbed back into the game.””
At the beginning of the second half, the Tritons continued their comeback, trading leads with the Toros several times until the final 3:05, when junior Ali Ginn took over for the Tritons.
With the game tied at 51, Ginn scored the Tritons’ final six points to secure the one-point UCSD victory at 57-56. Ginn scored 16 points in the game, including 11 in the second half to go along with a game-high eight rebounds.
“”We could have easily folded and given up when we were down early,”” Ginn said. “”But we played tough as a team and came back.””
Siam led all scorers with 19 points, 14 of which came in the second half, including 3-3 shooting from three-point range.
“”They were sagging off of me,”” Siam said. “”I got more opportunities than usual to shoot threes.””
Leading by three, the Triton defense overplayed the three-point line. After a missed shot, the Toros got an offensive rebound and were given a concession basket to finalize the scoring at 57-56.
“”Everybody was excited to get the first win,”” said junior co-captain Erynne Faucett.
Twenty-four hours later, the Tritons were in Los Angeles looking for their second win of the season against CSULA. Against the Eagles, UCSD played a close first half, leading by just three points at the break.
But behind Nichole Bromley’s 17 points and nine rebounds, as well as Siam’s 16 points, the Tritons pulled ahead in the second half and won the game handily at 79-63.
“”We looked like a different team,”” said Siam after the weekend sweep. “”We were running our offense well: cutting and making our shots. We looked like a totally different team.””
The big advantage for the Tritons against CSULA was at the free-throw line, where UCSD went 20-26 while CSULA shot only 3-5 for the game.
“”Everything was working for us,”” Faucett said.
Despite giving up 20 turnovers in each game, the Tritons did enough on the offensive end to get the weekend sweep.
“”We broke their press well,”” Siam said. “”Thea [Bachman] played really well in both games. She settled us down.””
Bachman averaged five assists per game over the weekend.
With the back-to-back victories, the UCSD women are now 2-9 overall on the season and 2-4 in CCAA play.
“”We just needed to get over that hump. Now that we know we can do it, I think things will be a lot different. Practice this week should be a lot more upbeat,”” said Siam.
This weekend the Tritons will host CSU San Bernardino on Jan. 17 and Cal Poly Pomona on Jan. 18. Game time on both days is 5:30 p.m. at RIMAC Arena.
