The Tritons easily dispatched San Francisco State; use a strong run in the fourth quarter to defeat Cal State L.A.
On Thursday night, UCSD went seemingly unchallenged by a helpless San Francisco State team that managed only 12 points in the entirety of the first half; the Tritons had eased to a 59 point blowout by the end of the night, 93–34.
As a team, they put up an impressive statline with a total of four players scoring in double figures, with senior guard Jamie Katuna scoring a game high of 16 points. With perhaps the most productive game, senior forward Farrah Shokoor produced a tremendous double-double consisting of 14 points and 13 rebounds. She is consistently producing similar performances, with that being her eighth double-double of the season.
Freshman guard Lauryn Catching, in an attempt to provide a positive spark in her team’s uninspiring performance, ended the night with eight points. She, along with freshman center Kiara Ginwright, swatted away six shots, keeping her on top of the NCAA blocks per game category.
UCSD played hard on both sides of the game, offensively shooting 50 percent from the field (30–60) and holding the Gators to 18 percent from the field (11–61).
“I thought it was a tremendous team win,” UCSD Head Coach Heidi VanDerveer told the UCSD athletic department.
The Tritons outplayed the Gators in every aspect of the game from the get-go, leading 11–3 within the first minutes. Then, keeping with the pace, UCSD increased its lead to an 18-point gap at the end of the first quarter at 24–6.
There was no looking back for the Tritons, as they started the second period with a 14–2 run and began to impose their dominance on the Gators. At the half the lead was 37 points, 49–12, after a layup from Katuna and a couple free throws from the Gators’ junior guard Felicia Villarruel.
The Gators almost doubled their points total, 22, from the first half in the second, but this simply was not enough as the game was out of reach. The Tritons added 44 points in the second half, giving themselves a comfortable victory on the road.
UCSD W Basketball v. Cal State Los Angeles
On Saturday night, UCSD used a strong fourth quarter to hold off conference foe Cal State Los Angeles, resulting in a 65–55 away victory and continuing its impressive season with a now 12–2 overall record and 7–1 in conference play. The Golden Eagles fell to 3–10 in the season and 1–6 in conference play.
Tritons pair junior guard Beth Mounier and Shokoor led the way with 12 points each, followed by Katuna who contributed with 11 points on the night. Then, in a giving mood, sophomore guard Taylor Tanita spread the wealth around and dished out a game high of seven assists.
Trying to keep her team in it, senior forward Bree Parsons provided the Golden Eagles with a game-high 16 points.
UCSD came out the gates fast with two quick buckets within the first minute of the game. Cal State LA’s coach was unimpressed with the mindset of the team and quickly called a timeout to sort it out. The Golden Eagles came to grips after the timeout and Parsons drained a three pointer to get them on the board. In the following minutes, Cal State LA was able to capture a 11–9 lead over the Tritons. In response, the Tritons went on a 8–1 run to end the quarter and recaptured the lead, making it 17–12.
Starting where they left off the first quarter, UCSD went on to hold a 12-point advantage in the second quarter following an assist by freshman guard Joleen Yang to the open sophomore guard Paige Song, leading to an easy layup underneath the basket. The half ended 30–23, in favor of UCSD, after Cal State LA was able to climb back into it with a small run of five unanswered points. The Tritons came out cold during the second half and only managed to put up nine points in the third quarter, Tanita helping to conserve the lead with a triple making it 33–29. However, Cal State LA’s senior guard Franeka Hall closed the gap with her buzzer-beating tip in to end the third, with UCSD holding on to only a 39–37 lead.
Hall then began the final quarter by causing trouble again and was able to get to the line and succeed in the free throws, tying the game at 39 apiece. From there on, the Tritons took control and showed their dominance with 10 unanswered points behind a couple of threes from Mounier, followed by Shokoor and junior guard Haley Anderson contributing a couple points of their own.
With a minute remaining in the game, Tanita found a cutting Shokoor and gave UCSD the largest lead of the night, 63–49. The Golden Eagles were able to pull back six points in the final minute, but it came too late as the Tritons came out victorious for the 12th time this year.
The Tritons will now travel up north, to the Bay Area, where they will be tested by conference-leading Cal State East Bay on Friday, Jan. 15. Tip off at 5:30 p.m.
