LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The 20th-ranked UC San Diego women's basketball team posted a big 68-60 victory over visiting Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday evening in RIMAC Arena. With the win the Tritons improve to 13-5 overall and 5-3 in CCAA action while the Coyotes drop to 12-3 overall and fall out of their tie for first place in the league with their 6-2 conference mark.
UCSD fell behind early once again, trailing by a 10-2 margin before head coach Charity Elliott's squad settled down and began to claw away at the early deficit. The Tritons would use a 15-4 spurt to take a 17-14 lead with 10:54 to go in the half that would grow to an eight point advantage at the intermission.
CSUSB would not go away, however, battling back from an 11 point hole early in the second half to take a 40-39 lead on a Rachel Johnson layup with 12:43 to go in regulation. That lead would not last long as the Tritons would get an old-fashioned 3-point play from Alexis Gaskin at the 11:41 mark to go up by a 45-42 margin that would not be relinquished. UCSD's lead, in fact, would not dip below four points the rest of the way.
The Tritons were led offensively by Meaghan Noud's 21 points while Michelle Osier had a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double. Alexis Mezzetta would add 13 points, six boards and five assits while Diahnn Futalan chipped in with 11 points and four rebounds in her first start of the season and only the second start of her four-year career on the La Jolla campus.
Vanessa Wilt was held 14 points below her season average but still managed to notch a 10-point, 14-rebound double-double in the loss. Shanae Blake scored 20 points while Krystal Urzua added nine for the Coyotes.
Both teams had similar stats across the board except for one, as UCSD held an 18-3 advantage in free throws made. The Tritons made 75.0% of their shots from the charity stripe while the Coyotes made only 37.5% of their foul attempts.
The Tritons will remain at home next weekend to host San Francisco State on Friday evening and CSU Monterey Bay on Saturday night. Both games are slated for 5:30 p.m. tip-offs.
