After five straight wins to open the season, the No. 4 UCSD
women’s basketball team continued its success with a 60-46 win over No. 8 Chico
State on Dec. 1 and a 77-58 victory over Cal State Stanislaus on Nov. 30. The
wins put the Tritons at 7-0 overall, the best start in the program’s history.
The Tritons faced undefeated rival Chico State in their
second home game this season. The battle started out close, as would be
expected of two teams that split their last 16 games against each other.
The Tritons scored the night’s first two baskets to take a
4-0 lead, but both offenses committed numerous early turnovers and struggled to
run offensive plays.
With the score tied at eight and 14:56 left in the first
half, the Tritons went on a 13-2 run to take a 21-10 lead, with back-to-back
three-pointers by senior guard Kaycie Bull and sophomore guard Annette Ilg
capping the Tritons’ run. The Wildcats answered back with 7:45 left in the
first half, outscoring the Tritons 15-4 and tying the game 25-25 at halftime.
The second half started out just like the first, with both
teams fighting hard for each basket against tough defenses. The Wildcats took
their first lead of the night with 15:45 left in the game when a layup put them
ahead 31-29. On the ensuing possession, junior forward Michelle Osier hit a
midrange jumper for UCSD, starting another Triton run that lasted for most of
the half.
With senior forward Alexis Mezzetta playing point guard for
much of the second half, the Tritons were able to set up their offense and feed
the ball to Osier and senior center Alexis Gaskin in the post. Using their
offensive plays, the Tritons were able to pull away from the Wildcats for the
win.
“In the second half, we were able to run our plays and get
any shot that we wanted,” Mezzetta said.
UCSD also changed its defense in the second half to help
stop Chico State.
“On defense, we alternated between man-to-man defense and
zone instead of playing straight man-to-man like we did in the first half,”
head coach Charity Elliott said.
The Tritons were also able to put Chico State in foul
trouble during the game, forcing the Wildcats to bench their starters and
eventually causing Wildcat forward Amanda Monteith to foul out.
UCSD was strong on the boards, limiting Chico State’s usual
dominance on the glass.
“Rebounding was a big key in this game,” Elliott said.
“Chico State usually outrebounds its opponents by about 19, but we outrebounded
them in this game.”
Osier led the Tritons with 19 points and added seven
rebounds. Gaskin added eight points and eight rebounds, while senior guard Meaghan
Noud grabbed seven rebounds to help give the Tritons a 40-34 edge in
rebounding.
The Tritons’ first home-court game was a good one, as they
capitalized on many mistakes in a sloppy game from Cal State Stanislaus. The
Tritons took control right away, scoring 26 of the game’s first 30 points.
Gaskin had key rebounds for the Tritons both offensively and defensively, and
the UCSD defense kept the Warriors in check by forcing them to make turnovers.
The Tritons took a 33-20 lead at halftime that they held for
the entire second half. The UCSD squad was able to score easily with a simple
motion offense against Cal State Stanislaus.
Noud led the Tritons in scoring with 14 points and Osier
added 13 points while grabbing six rebounds. Gaskin also netted 12 points and
added five rebounds including three offensive boards.
After the two conference wins, the undefeated Tritons will
go back on the road to play three non-conference games against Grand Canyon University
on Dec. 16, Central Washington University on Dec. 18 and Western Washington
University on Dec. 19.
