The UCSD women’s basketball team finished the first half of its season with a convincing win, featuring both impressive defense and offense, over San Francisco State on Jan. 31. The 71-57 victory moved the team to 10-7 overall and 6-6 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. San Francisco State dropped to 9-8 overall and 5-7 in the CCAA. This is a huge improvement over last year, when at the halfway mark of the season UCSD was 3-10, having lost their first seven games.
Guardian
UCSD jumped out to a huge lead and continued to build it up until halftime. Senior guard Ali Ginn began the rally, helping UCSD leap to a 13-6 lead, and junior center Stacy Bolton-Gallagher finished the half with a very strong performance. Both players had 10 points at halftime, and with lots of contributions from the other players, UCSD had a 42-22 lead.
Ginn has been impressed with Bolton-Gallagher’s play in the last few games.
“”Stacy’s been playing great lately,”” she said.
Bolton-Gallagher went on to record double-digit rebounds for her second straight game.
San Francisco State made a 7-0 run to start the second half, but UCSD put the game out of reach after a timeout with a 14-4 run, stretching their lead to 56-33. With such a huge lead, the team was able to rest some of its starters and get some other players more playing time, specifically senior forward Robyn Phillips, freshman center Megan Niedermeyer and junior guard Lauren Sargent.
“”It was nice to see some other players get in,”” Ginn said. “”Back-to-back games every weekend take a toll on the body … it helps to sit a little.””
San Francisco State pulled to within 10 points, but the game was never in danger, as UCSD made plenty of free throws to ensure the victory.
Bolton-Gallagher finished with 11 points and added a game-high 16 rebounds. Junior forward Margaret Johnson continued her strong play with 10 points and nine rebounds. Ginn and freshman guard Leora Juster added 10 and 13 points, respectively. For the second straight game, 10 of the Tritons’ dressed players contributed at least one point.
Center Chrissy Ridenour had 20 points and 21 rebounds for San Francisco State.
The Tritons will now play all the teams in the league again, but in reverse order. They will play at San Francisco State on Feb. 6, whom they last played on Jan. 31, then at Sonoma State on Feb. 7, whom they last played Jan. 30.
Ginn is interested to see how the teams will have changed.
“”When you play teams the second time around, you see a lot of changes,”” she said. “”It will be interesting to see what kind of coaching changes will be made.””
This will be most true of their upcoming game against San Francisco State, who they will play in two consecutive games.
“”It’s hard to play the same team twice in a row,”” Ginn said. “”They are a very athletic team. But we’ve seen what they have, including the press they put on us in the fourth quarter. We’ll have to come out with our ëA’ game.””
The Tritons will return home on Feb. 13 and Feb. 14 to face Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Stanislaus, respectively, at RIMAC Arena.
