The No. 21 UCSD women’s basketball team has been all over the board in the last couple of weeks. The team dropped from a consistent and exciting 11-game winning streak to two-straight loses to No. 13 Cal State Bakersfield on Feb. 3 and No. 17 Chico State on Feb. 10. The Tritons jumped back into their rhythm on Feb. 11, however, when they worked Cal State Stanislaus in Warrior Arena with a convincing 89-58 win. The Tritons are definitely keeping fans at the edge of the bleachers with their recent unpredictability, and now stand at 16-4 overall and 11-3 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play.
With a record like Cal State Stanislaus’, 6-15 overall, 2-12 CCAA, it’s no surprise that their night ended in defeat at the hands of the Tritons; the win may have been just the confidence boost that the Tritons needed to get back their steady stance. The Warriors clung as close as they could in the first half, holding their last lead of the game, 13-12, at the 12-minute mark. UCSD got the ball rolling (and into the basket for that matter) too steadily for Cal State Stanislaus to keep up.
The Tritons headed into break with a 40-25 lead and didn’t give it up for the rest of the game. Thirty-three Warrior turnovers helped the effort, along with the never-failing scoring techniques of junior guard Leora Juster, who added 26 points in the win.
Freshman forward Michelle Osier helped out with a game-high 11 rebounds and 15 points, along with junior forward Hillary Hansen, who picked up four boards and three steals, and added 10 points.
The game against Chico State on Feb. 10 marked the Tritons’ first two-game losing streak of the season. The Wildcats responded to a close 79-77 to the Tritons back on Jan. 7, when UCSD was in the middle of their eventual 11-game win streak, with a lopsided 90-68 defeat at Acker Gym.
Chico State came out strong and mustered a firm lead early on at 13-2, bumping it up to 31-17 by the end of the half. The Tritons just couldn’t get the accuracy they needed, netting only 11 of 38 shots from the floor.
Though UCSD picked up their game a bit more in the second half, as they usually do, it just wasn’t enough to overcome the 22-point margin of victory for the win. It was a bad night for the Tritons, as they committed 22 turnovers in the match.
Despite Juster’s eight successful charity shots, she fell short of her usual suave scoring with only 15 points on 3-of-16 shooting from the floor. Osier made up for Juster’s less-than-stellar night with 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor.
The Tritons will face Cal State San Bernadino, Cal State Monterey Bay and Grand Canyon this week at RIMAC Arena, with games starting at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday, and 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.
