No. 1 UCSD Capture Conference Title

The Tritons have already clinched a conference tournament berth with their 26-0 record.

And now, going into the last weekend of conference play, they have captured the regular season title with wins against second in conference Cal State Monterey Bay and seventh place Cal State East Bay.

On Friday, the Tritons topped Cal State Monterey Bay (17-6) on the road, beating the Otters by eight points — their closest victory since their double overtime win against Chico State on Jan. 7.

Cal State Monterey Bay took the early lead in front of a raucous home crowd of 817 people, but the Tritons took charge with a three-point play from senior forward Lauren Freidenberg and a three-pointer from senior spot up shooter Daisy Feder in their next possession.

Feder went three-of-seven from behind the arc and five-of-16 from the field for 17 points.

Freidenberg also finished with 17 points, while junior guard Emily Osga led the Tritons in scoring with 20 points.

The point guard went an outstanding 7-of-12 from the field, finishing all three of her three-point attempts.

From there, UCSD never relinquished the lead, ending the second period with a slight four-point advantage.

Despite shooting just 39.4 percent from the field in the second half, the Tritons were able to extend their lead to eight by the end of the half when Osga caught fire.

The starting point guard scored eight points in a three-minute span to jump start the Triton offense.

“Tonight was just another example of the balance this team has,” Elliott said to the UCSD athletics department. “We don’t have to rely on any one player to score to win. We have several individuals that can step up and get the job done and to see such a balanced effort in a tough environment on the road was really impressive.”

    On Saturday, the Tritons took their 20th regular season win against 11-7 Cal State East Bay.

The Pioneers, who sit in seventh place in the conference standings, are currently posed to secure a post conference if they can take a win from bottom-of-the-league Cal State Stanislaus in the coming weekend.

 UCSD got off to an uncharacteristically slow start. The Tritons trailed at the end of the first half 30-31 after shooting 11-of-29 for 37.9 percent shooting.

“Tonight was another example of how tough it is to play on the road in this league,” Elliott said to the UCSD Athletic Department. “East Bay was ready to play tonight and gave us a great battle.
We had a great start to the second half and then we were able to put the game away with the big run at the end.”

Down 30-31, the Tritons took the lead as the second period opened, with UCSD hitting three consecutive three-pointers from Feder and senior guard Chelsea Carlisle.

With 14 minutes left to play, UCSD led by as many as 12 points, but the Pioneers slowly chipped away to cut the deficit back down to single digits with six minutes left to play.

The Tritons succeeded in slowly wearing the Pioneers down as Elliott fielded her reserves and ran up the score to increase the lead by 18 points by the end of the game.

UCSD will end its regular season on the road, with two more games against Humboldt State on Wednesday, Feb. 22 and Sonoma State on Saturday, Feb. 26.

“We’re looking to continue making history at UCSD this season,” Osga said. “And do something that’s never been done here before, win the conference tournament.”

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