The UCSD women’s basketball team picked up its third and fourth straight wins with key victories on the road against nationally-ranked Chico State on Friday and Cal State Stanislaus on Saturday.
The Tritons came up big on Friday with a thorough 73-53 victory over conference powerhouse No. 20 Chico State, snapping the Wildcats’ 14-game home winning streak and handing them their first conference defeat.
All-American Chelsea Carlisle rose to the occasion in usual fashion. The junior guard led the Tritons’ scoring, recording 26 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Junior guard Daisy Feder further cemented her reputation as the Tritons’ sharpshooter, coming off the bench to sink four of her nine three-point attempts and ending the night with 17 points.
The Wildcats got off to a quick start, hitting three of their first five shots to take the early lead. But back-to-back three-pointers from Feder in the ninth minute of the game put UCSD on top, securing a lead bolstered by the Tritons’ hot shooting.
The Tritons would finish the night shooting a stellar 47 percent from the field. Conversely, the absence of Chico’s top scorer Natasha Smith — who averages 14.6 points per game — hurt the Wildcats offensively. They would go on to miss 33 out of their next 45 attempts, and finish the game shooting a mere 35 percent from the field.
In the final game of their road trip, the Tritons took on Cal State Stanislaus, where they came away with a narrow 86-80 victory to end the Warriors’ five-game winning streak.
The Tritons came out hot in the first half, shooting 68 percent from the field.
UCSD overtook the lead in the fifth minute after Carlisle put in a three-pointer, which was followed by a flurry of field goals from junior and sophomore starters Lauren Freidenberg and Emily Osga. The Tritons continued to pour on the offense with major contributions from the bench — who collectively outshot the Warriors’ reserves 20-5 — with Feder putting in nine points for the night and freshmen forwards Erin Dautremont and Magdalena Usher both posting six points.
The Tritons went into the second half with a commanding 16-point lead. But Stanislaus guards Andreanna Marshall and Christin Gowan caught fire, as the Tritons watched their lead whittle down to a single point with eight minutes remaining. But two three-pointers from Feder put the Triton lead back to seven, and UCSD held on for the win.
Marshall finished with a team-leading 26 points for Stanislaus, while Gowan finished with 16 points, combining to score over half of the Warriors’ overall buckets.
Despite outscoring the Tritons 26-10 and going 61 percent from the field in the second half, the Warriors were unable to contain Carlisle, who became the Tritons’ leading scorer for the sixth straight game. Carlisle posted 31 points, while also leading the team in rebounds and assists.
“I’m so proud of this team right now; we had a tough three-game week on the road and we went 3-0,” head coach Charity Elliott said. “Chelsea Carlisle had a phenomenal weekend, but we also had so many other people step up when we needed them. Feder, Megan Perry, Freidenberg and Dautremont each had outstanding contributions this week.”
After a rough start to the season, the Tritons’ fourth straight win seemed to get the team in gear.
“I definitely believe that we have developed some chemistry and confidence these last few weeks,” Elliott said in an e-mail. “And we are so glad to be back home for a few weeks!”
With the pair of wins, UCSD improves to 6-2 in the CCAA, putting the Tritons in fifth.
The Tritons will return to RIMAC Arena this week, where they will take on Cal State Los Angeles on Thursday, Jan. 13.
Readers can contact Rachel Uda at [email protected].
