POMONA, Calif. ? The UC San Diego women's basketball team reached the 20-win plateau for the first time at the Division II level on Friday night with a convincing 70-50 win over Cal Poly Pomona. UCSD improves to 20-4 on the season and 14-3 in CCAA play while dropping the Broncos to 10-14 overall and 7-10 in league action.
Leora Juster had a big game for the Tritons, pouring in 27 points. She was 10-of-15 from the floor and hit all four of her free throws. Hillary Hansen and Kim Buffum scored 11 points each for the Tritons.
Shanika Perkins had another strong game for the Broncos, scoring a team-high 18 points. DeJa Blevins also had a good performance with her first double-double of the season. She had 18 points and a season-high 12 rebounds.
The Broncos held a slim 44-41 rebounding advantage, but committed 26 turnovers, 18 of them in the first half while UC San Diego raced to a big 38-19 lead at halftime.
Shooting was a problem once again for the Broncos, who made only 30 percent of their shots. Cal Poly Pomona also struggled at the line, making only 14 of 24 free-throw attempts.
The Broncos led only once, 2-0, when Perkins hit a jumper 33 seconds into the game. UC San Diego, though, responded with a 19-4 run to take a 19-6 lead. A 3-pointer by Buffum late in the period gave the Tritons a 38-19 halftime lead.
Cal Poly Pomona made a run in the second half and closed the deficit to 45-34 after a 3-pointer by Perkins. UC San Diego, again, though, regrouped and scored the next seven points, capped by a jumper by Juster, to extend its lead to 52-34.
The Broncos made one final run and cut the gap to 10 points, 54-44, with 5:19 to go after three free throws by Blevins.
That was as close as Cal Poly Pomona would get, though, because UC San Diego scored the next nine points and pulled away.
UCSD returns to action on Saturday evening, playing at Cal State Dominguez Hills at 5:30 p.m. The Tritons will then conclude its regular season with two home games against San Francisco State and Sonoma State the following weekend.
