WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ‘mdash; Riding a wave of success for nearly the entire season, the ninth ranked women’s basketball team concluded its regular season as expected ‘mdash; with victories over Chico State on Feb. 26 and Cal State Stanislaus on Feb. 27. The Tritons’ record stands at 26-3 and 19-1 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play. UCSD’s mark in conference play is the program’s best since the Tritons joined the conference nine years ago.
The top seeded Tritons will now host eighth seeded Cal State San Bernardino in the first round of the CCAA Championship Tournament at 5:30 p.m. on March 3.
‘We are thrilled to be hosting Tuesday night and what a tremendous accomplishment for UCSD to have both the men and women hosting a tournament game,’ Elliott said. ‘It’s tournament time, which means everyone will be at their best, and I think our players are pretty excited to have another chance at San Bernardino.’
The Coyotes, who the Tritons last faced on Feb.14, were the only team to defeat UCSD in conference play this season ‘mdash; handing UCSD a 64-59 loss at home.
‘This week is definitely a time for rematches ‘mdash; San Bernardino was our only loss so we’re looking for revenge,’ senior center Alexis Gaskin said. ‘But it is also important for us because we want to get the best position for regionals … We know with all our offensive and defensive weapons, we’re going to be hard to stop not just on Tuesday, but all the way through the postseason.’
Despite securing the No. 1 CCAA seed the previous weekend, the Tritons executed an early, unshakeable lead against Cal State Stanislaus to demolish the Warriors seven minutes into the first half. Holding a 20-8 advantage with 13:13 on the clock, back-to-back threes and a jumper by Cal State Stanislaus trimmed UCSD’s lead down to four. Then, Gaskin knocked in a jumper. Junior guard Annette Ilg nailed her second triple. And the Tritons were up and running again, maintaining a 13-point lead at the end of the half. An exceptional Triton defense was displayed Friday night, forcing numerous Warrior turnovers and resulting in 23 points for UCSD.
‘We have trust in each other that we have help if they try to go back door, so we’re getting stops and steals frequently because it’s tough for anyone to have to consistently fight for every basket,’ Gaskin said.
Outscoring Cal State Stanislaus 30-11 for the first 10 minutes of the second half, senior forward Michelle Osier’s three-point play gave UCSD a 32-point cushion, making it the game’s largest lead at 70-38. Stanislaus came no closer than 19 for the rest of the contest before the Tritons sailed to a 76-57 victory.
Freshman guard Chelsea Carlisle turned in another solid performance, leading the team with 20 points, hitting 8-of-10 from the field and tallying four rebounds and four steals. Gaskin finished with 15 points while Ilg added 13 points, going a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the
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The prior evening, UCSD dominated. The team used a commanding second period to defeat Chico State 60-46. In a seesaw first half, the score was tied nine times with six lead changes. Carlisle knocked down a triple to tie the score at 23 with two minutes left. The Tritons then scored six unanswered points, clutching onto a delicate lead of 29-23 entering halftime.
Stretching the lead to nine early in the second half, the Wildcats responded with consecutive layups and a pair of free throws, whittling their deficit to 32-29 with 16:08 on the clock. Over the next several minutes, the Tritons maintained a slim advantage before junior forward Kristen Cabral’s three pointer capped off a 16-9 run. The Tritons pushed a double-digit lead. With 5:34 left in regulation and the Wildcats down 50-43, Gaskin hit back-to-back buckets to boost UCSD up 54-46 and pave the way for victory. Scoring their final six points in free throws, the Tritons went 6-for-8 from the line in the last minute of the game to post a win over Chico State 60-46 and sweep the season series.
‘Our patience and teamwork offensively makes it even more difficult [for our opponents] because we force teams to have to play defense every possession,’ Gaskin said. ‘We look for the best shot, not for a particular person.’
For the 16th time this season, Osier led all scores with 17 points and pulled down a game-high 13 boards. Carlisle followed with 14 points and grabbed eight boards while Gaskin added 11 points and five boards. Overall, UCSD out-rebounded Chico State 36-21.
‘We played great team defense and continued to make some great decisions on the offensive end,’ Elliott said. ‘We knew both teams would be playing with a lot of emotion due to Senior Night and yet, we remained calm and confident and allowed our defense to create our offense, which led to some easy baskets in transition.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Readers can contact Brianna Lee at [email protected].