Coming off yet another win on Thursday evening against Cal State Monterey Bay to make it 10 consecutives, the UC San Diego women’s basketball team headed to Hayward, CA to take on Cal State East Bay in an attempt to maintain its winning streak. The Tritons did just that and took a 76–70 win back home, extending their win streak to 11. Two road wins on the week for UCSD improves their overall record to 15–2 and a perfect 11–0 in California Collegiate Athletic Association conference play.
The Tritons came into the game with confidence hitting the ceiling. However, the Pioneers were not just going to let themselves get trampled over at home. Cal State East Bay, like all the other teams in the conference, wanted to give UCSD its first strike in the loss column and the Pioneers did their best to make that a reality. The Pioneers came into the matchup with a winning record, but the Tritons just were a bit too much on the night and went home with the narrow victory. Behind the duo of junior guard Joleen Yang (17 points) and redshirt sophomore Mikayla Williams (18 points, 7 rebounds), UCSD was able to put up 76 points, 35 of them coming from the junior and sophomore. The Pioneers kept the game close throughout and eventually took the lead over the Tritons with less than two minutes remaining; however, that was the last glimpse of hope they would have, as UCSD finished strong defensively. The Tritons would end the last 1:49 of the game on a 7–0 run to keep the win streak alive. In the fourth quarter alone, UCSD shot 63.6 percent from the field to cap off the game.
In the evening, the Tritons shot an overall 49.2 percent from the field while shooting 42.1 percent from the three-point line. Yang put on a shooting clinic in her 35 minutes on the court, going six-for-nine from the field and an impressive five-for-six from the behind-the-arc to rack up most of her points. Likewise, Williams had an efficient game shooting nine-for-12 and was a force to be reckoned with in the paint, tallying all of her points there. Two other Tritons scored in double digits: Senior guard Taylor Tanita and junior guard Kayla Sato contributed with 12 and 14 points, respectively.
UCSD returns to San Diego for a three-game home stand and will start with a matchup against Stanislaus State on Thursday, Jan. 18. The teams met a few weeks ago when they faced off on the last day of 2017, which ended in a comfortable 79–52 road win for the Tritons. UCSD will be hoping for the same result at home as the team looks to continue its winning ways into the second half of the season. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
