WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ‘mdash; Taking advantage of their longest homestand of the season, the Tritons won six of their seven games at home between Dec. 6 and Jan. 3 to improve their overall record to 11-2.
After posting victories in their first conference games this season against Humboldt State University and Sonoma State University on Dec. 5 and Dec. 6 respectively, UCSD suffered a 75-65 loss to St. Mary’s on Dec. 19. Since then the Tritons have been on a tear, defeating No. 21 Drury University 86-61 on Dec. 20 and San Diego Christian College 83-47 on Dec. 30. UCSD finished its homestand with conference wins against Cal State Los Angeles and Cal State Dominguez Hills on Jan. 2 and Jan. 3 respectively.
UCSD’s latest victory was made in comeback fashion as CSUDH held the Triton offense in check during the first half. The Toros shut out leading scorer senior forward Michelle Osier in the opening period and held UCSD’s second-leading scorer senior center Alexis Gaskin to just two points.
‘[CSUDH] definitely had our best players targeted,’ sophomore forward Molly McIntyre said. ‘They had trouble getting their offense going and were shut out in the first half.’
Despite the struggles of the team’s sharp shooters, UCSD remained close in the game and ended the half trailing by only three points largely due to its defense, which held the Toros to 28.9 percent shooting.
Junior forward Erin Noonan gave the Tritons some life in the second half, starting off the period with a three-pointer that tied the game at 28. UCSD took a 30-28 lead off a layup from Gaskin with 17:46 left and never relinquished the advantage. Noonan led all scorers in the game with 17 points and junior guard Annette Ilg added 14.
Of their four victories over winter break, UCSD’s win over Drury University may have been the most impressive. Not only did the Tritons pull off the upset, the 25-point Drury loss was the worst defeat in the program’s history.
‘Part of it was because we lost the game the previous night,’ McIntyre said. ‘We had the mentality that we couldn’t let a team do that to us again on our home court. We came out with incredible focus and everyone executed well in every area.’
The Tritons jumped out to a 15-5 lead, with offensive contributions from starters Gaskin, Noonan, Osier and junior guard Leilani Martin. Nursing a commanding lead early, the Tritons were able to tap into their bench and allow other players to step up. Freshman guard Chelsea Carlisle responded to the challenge, converting on her first attempt of the game with a three-pointer that put UCSD up 18-7 with 14:03 left in the half.
Carlisle added five more points in the opening period as the Tritons never let up and built a 41-27 lead at halftime.
What on paper should have been a close game ended as a blowout thanks to the UCSD bench, which scored 20 points in the second half. Carlisle led the bench with’ 17 points in her second collegiate game. Gaskin scored 22 points and recorded nine rebounds and Osier netted 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Tritons.
UCSD’s wins over CSUDH and CSULA kept its conference record perfect at 4-0. The Tritons will hit the road against Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona as part of 18 straight conference games that they have just started.
‘We want to go undefeated in conference,’ Carlisle said. ‘The game plan, like in our games at home, starts defensively, playing together. If we do that, we’re a hard team to beat.’ ‘
Readers can contact Janani Sridharan at [email protected].