WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ‘mdash; The 13th ranked Tritons added another two wins to their near-perfect record over the weekend, defeating San Francisco State 51-47 on Feb. 20 and Cal State Monterey Bay 70-50 on Feb. 21. The dual wins on Spirit Night and Senior Night concluded the Tritons’ final home games of the season, improving UCSD to a 17-1 standing in California Collegiate Athletic Association and clinching the top spot in the upcoming conference tournament.
Senior center Alexis Gaskin and senior forward Michelle Osier turned in outstanding performances on Spirit Night, scoring 18 points apiece. Osier finished 8-for-13 from the field and grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds. Gaskin went 9-for-14 and notched five boards.
‘Seniors understand the necessity and importance to come out every night ready to play because they know their time on the court is limited,’ head coach Charity Elliott said. ‘Those two just are the heart and soul of our team and I hope we have a lot more basketball left with them.’
In a game they never trailed, the Tritons got off to a fast start, leading 10-3 five minutes into the first period. The Otters closed the gap to within two when junior center Janet Oseguera’s three-point play made the score 16-14. Unable to withstand the Triton defense, Cal State Monterey Bay ceded 14 points in turnovers as Gaskin, Osier, freshman guard Chelsea Carlisle and junior forward Kristen Cabral each put up points to kick off UCSD’s 16-7 run. Leading by a 16-point margin, the Tritons all but put the game away at the half with a score of 37-21.
The Tritons, who outscored Cal State Monterey Bay in the paint by a margin of 24 points, led by as many as 24 (61-37) before gliding to a 20-point victory.’
Carlisle recorded her first career double-double with 12 points and 10 assists in the Triton victory.’ ‘ ‘
‘We played together so well and the end result reflected that,’ Gaskin said. ‘On defense and offense, the flow of the game was how we were playing earlier in the season. The last few weeks, we had fallen away from our highest potential, which allowed a few teams to come too close, and teams like San Bernardino to get a win.’
On Friday evening, the women’s team faced a tighter contest when San Francisco State rallied from behind during the second half to give Tritons a scare. Trailing with 3:56 left on the clock, Gator junior guard Jessica Hout-Freeman nailed a three-pointer to keep San Francisco State in the game at 41-37. But with a boisterous Sprit Night crowd of 1,598 enthusiastically cheering, the Tritons maintained control as back-to-back layups by Ilg and Carlisle put UCSD up by six with just under two minutes to play.
‘Even though we ended the first half strong, we know that SFSU is never a team that backs down,’ Gaskin said. ‘So we weren’t too surprised how hard they fought at the end. But, I also knew that we could withstand their force to finish the game, even when it came down to the wire.’
After junior guard Leilani Martin sank a pair of free throws, the Gators answered with a layup and a jumper to make the score 49-47 with seven seconds left in regulation. San Francisco State, in a desperate attempt to upset the conference’s top team, fouled again, sending Carlisle to the line to convert both her attempts to hand the Gators a tough 51-47 loss.
The Triton defense put together another exceptional performance as the Gators hit just 36.5 percent of their field goal attempts on 19-for-52 shooting. Osier led the team with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Carlisle pitched in 10 points, five assists and three steals.
With Saturday’s victory, the Tritons finished their regular season home schedule with a record of 12-2 at RIMAC Arena, winning 17 of their last 18 games and securing the top seed heading into the CCAA Championship Tournament on March 3. UCSD will no
w host a conference tournament first-round game in two weeks.
Readers can contact Brianna Lee at [email protected].