This past weekend, the No. 25 UCSD women’s basketball team added two more Ws to their already long list. The Tritons notched a 91-71 win against San Francisco State on Jan. 26, and followed up that performance with a convincing 81-64 win against Cal State Monterey Bay on Jan. 27. With the two wins, the team’s overall record stands at 13-3.
Cal State Monterey Bay came out strong against the Tritons early in the game, hitting its shots and keeping it close for the most of the first half.
However, UCSD was able to pull away from the Otters near the end of the first half of the game. With four minutes left in the half and the game tied, the Tritons went on a 15-0 run to close out the first half with a 43-28 lead.
Eight of those 15 points came from sophomore forward Michelle Osier, who finished the game with 18 points. Sophomore center Alexis Gaskin, senior forward Hillary Hansen and senior point guard Kacie Kostlan also contributed points to the Tritons’ end-of-the-half surge.
UCSD spread the ball around very well on offense, allowing many players the chance to step up and make shots.
“”It’s nice that we had a lot of different people scoring,”” junior forward Meaghan Noud said. Noud scored 17 points in the game off the bench for the Tritons.
The Tritons received a lot of help from their leading scorer, senior guard Leora Juster, in the second half. Juster had 10 of her 18 points in the second half and helped UCSD maintain its lead over Cal State Monterey Bay. Overall, the game was a team effort for the Tritons.
“”I thought the team played very well,”” head coach Janell Jones said. “”They played good defense, shot and rebounded the ball well and they didn’t have too many turnovers.””
The Tritons also spread the ball around in their 91-71 win against San Francisco State. The game was tight in the first half, with neither team able to establish a sizeable lead.
“”They came out pretty strong, and it was a tough game in the first half,”” Noud said. “”We weren’t playing poorly, but we were away and they had the advantage playing at home.””
San Francisco State was able to end the first half only down by two points, largely due to its successful three-pointers, as the Gators went eight for 12 from behind the arc.
“”We struggled with them in the first half defensively,”” Noud said. “”They had two players who were hitting three-point shots from way behind the arc – NBA three-pointers.””
The Tritons came out in the second half with a different approach defensively.
“”At halftime, we identified the shooters and they weren’t able to take or make as many shots as they did in the first half,”” Noud said.
The Tritons were able to take the long ball away from the Gators, who only made one three-pointer in the second half. This allowed the Tritons to open up the game and take a comfortable lead.
Also helping the Tritons’ second-half efforts was the return of Juster, who sat out much of the first half due to foul trouble. Juster was one of four Tritons to reach double digits and she finished the game with 22 points.
Freshman forward Erin Noonan had a career-high 11 points off the bench for the Tritons and Noud had a team-high 23 points.
“”Both teams this weekend were out trying to get us,”” Juster said. “”With that, I think we didn’t fall too far behind and we eventually wore them down. We consistently played well.””
This week, UCSD will be on the road facing Cal State Stanislaus on Feb. 1 and No. 6 Chico State on Feb. 3. The Tritons lost in their first meeting with Chico State, and they hope to improve in this nationally ranked game.
Although this game is likely the biggest game in the Tritons’ season so far, Jones is treating it like just another match.
“”We just have to get rested, go out on the road again and continue to work on what we work on every day to get better,”” Jones said.
Juster, on the other hand, is taking a slightly different approach.
“”We’re treating it like it’s our last game – a championship game,”” Juster said. “”If you go in with that mentality, you have to win because it’s the last game. It’s do or die.””
