LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The Cal State San Bernardino women's basketball team pulled off a stunning 60-47 upset over 23rd-ranked UC San Diego in front of 507 fans on Friday evening in RIMAC Arena. With the win the Coyotes improve to 9-4 overall and 5-3 in CCAA play while dropping the Tritons to 10-3 overall and 6-2 in league action.
CSUSB led by as many as 19 points on the night and limited the nation's second leading scorer, Leora Juster, to a mere seven points on 3 of 12 shooting. Vanessa Wilt led the way for the Coyotes, scoring 18 points and grabbing nine boards while Krystal Urzua added 13 points in the win.
As a team Cal State San Bernardino shot 45.1% from the floor while limiting the Tritons to 31.0% on the night, which included a woeful 2-for-19 (10.5%) performance from behind the 3-point arc. The Coyotes also out-rebounded UCSD by a 40-32 margin that included a 28-19 edge on the defensive end.
Junior Meaghan Noud led the Tritons in scoring on the night, netting 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting while senior Hillary Hansen added 12 points, all of which came in the second half. Juster's seven points marks the first time since her sophomore season that the guard from Los Angeles scored fewer than 10 points.
The Coyotes never trailed in the contest, scoring the first five points and leading by as many as 12 in the first half. That lead was extended to 19 at the 14:21 mark of the second half before it was trimmed to nine points with 3:47 to go, but the Tritons could get no closer as a Urzua 3-pointer at the 2:58 mark put CSUSB up by a double-digit lead that would hold the remainder of the contest.
UCSD returns to the court tomorrow evening, hosting Cal Poly Pomona at 5:30 p.m. in RIMAC Arena. CSUSB travels to Cal State Dominguez Hills for a 5:30 p.m. matchup on Saturday night in the Torodome.
