After winning its first two games in the NCAA Division II West Regional Tournament held at UCSD, the No. 12 UCSD women’s basketball team will face Chico State in the regional final tonight at 7 p.m. The Tritons beat Western Washington University, 78-45, in the quarterfinal on March 9 and University of Alaska, Anchorage, 66-51, in the semifinal on March 10 to qualify for the final game.
Senior forward Hillary Hansen dribbles through a traffic jam including floored senior guard Leora Juster. While Juster had an off day, Hansen led the team with 18 points in UCSD’s 66-51 semifinal win.
UCSD showed why it is the No. 1 seed in the tournament in the semifinal game against the Seawolves. Even though UCSD’s starting senior point guard Kacie Kostlan only played in the first half of the game due to an injury, the Tritons still stepped up their game and showed how well they play together as a team.
UCSD’s defense made its presence known in the first possession of the game, which resulted in a Seawolves’ shot clock violation. That first possession set the tone for the rest of the game, which was dominated by great defense.
The Tritons held the Great Northwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Seawolf sophomore center Rebecca Kielpinski, to eight points, fulfilling their goal of limiting her ball posseson.
Though the UCSD offense was not as explosive as usual, senior forward Hillary Hansen shined. Hansen scored nine of UCSD’s first 12 points and helped the Tritons take an early 12-2 lead. Hansen also helped out the defensive side, ending the game with 12 rebounds to go with her team-high 18 points.
With one minute left in the first half, Kostlan took a nasty fall on her knee while leading a fast break. She could not return to the lineup but needed no support walking back to the bench – a sign she should return to the Tritons soon.
UCSD opened up a 35-17 lead at halftime and never looked back. Although it took more than four minutes for UCSD to score its first points in the second half, the Tritons picked it up and pushed their lead to 30 points with less than nine minutes left in the game. The Seawolves fought back with some late three-pointers, making six in the last five minutes of the game, but UCSD held off the attack to advance.
Sophomore forward Michelle Osier contributed 13 points and eight rebounds and sophomore center Alexis Gaskin added eight points off the bench.
The Tritons came out strong against Western Washington University, poised to win their first-ever D-II postseason game. UCSD quickly took an 8-2 lead, aided by Osier’s three-point shot, prompting Western Washington University to take a timeout.
“”I think we played a great game and came out well at the beginning,”” junior forward Meaghan Noud said. “”We had immediate drives and got points with free throws.””
The Vikings came out of the timeout and hit a jumper, but struggled with their shooting for the rest of the half. The Tritons’ defense crashed to the middle, relentlessly preventing production from the Vikings’ inside game. At some points, UCSD had three players guarding Western Washington University’s center, forcing the team to take outside shots.
“”It wasn’t necessarily the game plan beforehand,”” junior center Jillian Ricks said of UCSD’s defensive strategy against Western Washington University. “”It was more as the game went along. We saw the weaknesses on Western Washington’s part and it kept working.””
Western Washington University’s main weakness was its outside shooting, especially in the first half of the game. The Vikings only shot 29 percent from the field in the first half. Because the UCSD defense focused on the inside game, Western Washington University got several open looks from three-point range but could not capitalize on its opportunities, only hitting two out of its 11 first-half three-point attempts.
With the score at 46-21, the game was essentially out of reach for the Vikings at halftime. The Tritons continued their strong play in the second half, allowing UCSD to move on to the second round.
Kostlan had a game-high 14 assists with four steals and only committed one turnover – an impressive feat for a point guard.
“”I think she played amazingly on both ends of the court,”” Ricks said. “”She was all over the court on defense and on offense, she was in the zone. She was making no-look passes and moving around, which got people open.””
Juster scored a game-high 23 points, including 16 first-half points, and the Tritons only committed seven turnovers in comparison to the Vikings’ 31.
With no real upsets in the tourney, No. 1 UCSD will face the defending regional champions, No. 2 Chico State, in RIMAC Arena for the regional final tonight at 7 p.m. The teams faced each other twice this season, with the first game resulting in a 79-69 loss for the Tritons on Dec.1, followed by an 80-63 win on Feb. 3.