LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The UC San Diego women's basketball team upset 12th-ranked Chico State by a 79-77 score on Saturday night in RIMAC Arena. With the win the Tritons improve to 8-2 overall and move into a second place tie in the California Collegiate Athletic Association standings with their 3-1 league mark. The Wildcats fall to 9-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play with the loss.
Junior Leora Juster had yet another outstanding night, scoring 26 points to go along with her sevens assists and four rebounds. Michelle Osier added 12 points and 11 rebounds while Hillary Hansen chipped in with 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists before fouling out late in the second half. Redshirt freshman Alexis Gaskin provided a spark off the bench with her career-high 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks.
Amber Simmons led all scorers on the night with 30 in the loss for Chico State. She also pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Lauren Himmelspach added 14 points while Haley Ford chipped in with 12 on a dismal 4-for-20 night of shooting from the floor.
After both teams scored 47 points in the first half the pace slowed a bit as the UCSD defense limited the Wildcats to only 30 second half points on 11-for-39 shooting from the floor. The Wildcats had only 13 turnovers in the game but eight of those proved costly in the second stanza.
UCSD ended the evening with a .477 shooting clip from the floor despite making only 1-of-7 shots from long range in the second half. Both teams shot less than 70% from the charity stripe as Chico State made 16-of-23 (69.6%) while the Tritons made only 12-of19 (63.2%).
The win pushes UCSD's record to 8-2 on the year giving first year head coach Janell Jones and her squad the best start in program history since moving to the Division II level in 2000.. The previous best was the 2003-04 team who started out 7-2.
The Tritons return to action on Wednesday night, January 11, traveling to Cal State San Bernardino for a 5:30 p.m. matchup. UCSD will then travel to Cal State Monterey Bay for a Saturday night contest in Seaside, Calif., at 5:30 p.m. as well.
