LA JOLLA, Calif. ? Junior Leora Juster scored a career-high 32 points to lead the UC San Diego women's basketball team to 67-52 victory over visiting Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday night in RIMAC Arena. The win was the Tritons' seventh in a row and pushes their record to 11-2 on the year and 6-1 in CCAA play while CSUDH falls to 7-6 overall and 2-5 in league play.
UCSD jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before Brittney Blankenship hit a 3-pointer for the Toros to tie the score. That bucket tied the game for the last time as the Tritons went on a 9-2 run over the next six minutes and to take a 12-5 lead with just under 12 minutes to play in the first stanza. UCSD led by 15 at intermission and by as many 20 in the second half before cruising down the stretch for the 15-point margin of victory.
Juster got her points in a variety of ways, going 11-for-17 from the floor including a perfect 4-for-4 from the 3-point line. She also made 6-of-9 free throw attempts while collecting six assists, four rebounds and three steals in the win. Freshman Michelle Osier added nine points, nine rebounds and three steals while sophomore Briana Hinga chipped in with six points, seven rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots.
As a team the Tritons made 7-of-15 shots from long range while limiting the Toros to only 5-of-17 from the same distance. CSUDH struggled all night long from the floor, making only 17-of-57 shots from the field while committing 18 turnovers.
UCSD limited Tameka Blue, the league's third leading scorer, to only four points on the evening, well below her 19.2 points per game average heading into the night. The Tritons also pulled down 19 offensive rebounds for a total of 47 on the evening, one more total rebound than CSUDH.
The win was the Tritons' fourth over a team ranked in the top-10 in the West Region. UCSD, who debuted atop the NCAA Division II West Region poll earlier this week, has racked up wins over No. 2 Cal State Bakersfield, No. 5 Chico State, No. 8 Northwest Nazarene and No. 9 Cal State Dominguez Hills.
Head coach Janell Jones and her squad returns to action on Saturday night, hosting Cal Poly Pomona at 5:30 p.m. in RIMAC Arena.
