LA JOLLA, Calif. - One night removed from suffering a double-digit loss to a team not ranked in the top-10 in the West Region, the UC San Diego women's basketball team took down the 5th-ranked team in the West, Sonoma State, by a convincing 72-59 score on Saturday evening in RIMAC Arena. The Tritons, who are ranked 7th in the latest NCAA D-II West Region poll, improve to 17-7 overall and 9-5 in CCAA play while dropping the Seawolves down to 15-6 overall and 9-5 in conference action.
UCSD trailed through most of the first half until an Erin Noonan jumper at the 7:12 mark gave the Tritons their first lead at 22-20. The two teams would trade baskets over the final minutes of the first stanza, ending with the Seawolves leading by a 28-27 mark at intermission.
Coming out of the break Sonoma State scored the first basket but it was UCSD that went on a 7-0 run over the next three minutes to take a 34-31 lead that would not be relinquished. The Tritons would let the Seawolves within one on two separate occasions but built a lead that would not dip below nine points over the final two minutes of the contest.
Michelle Osier and Alexis Mezzetta led the Tritons with 17 points apiece while Alexis Gaskin would chip in with 15 in the victory. Osier also pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds, helping UCSD to a narrow 39-38 advantage on the glass.
Lauren Redfield netted a game-high 20 points, making four of six shots from long range in the loss. Chelsey Armacost added 17 points while Danae Wellander chipped in with eight points and a team-high five assists.
As a team the Tritons made nearly 41% of their shots from the floor while limiting the Seawolves to a .370 shooting percentage. SSU dominated from beyond the arc however, making eight of 19 for a .421 mark while the Tritons managed to make only five of 14 (35.7%). The big difference came at the charity stripe where UCSD made 19 of 29 attempts while SSU made only 11 of 19 foul shots.
Head coach Charity Elliott and the Tritons will return to action next weekend, hosting their final two regular season home games. UCSD will host Cal State L.A. on Friday night, February 15th before wrapping up the home slate against Cal State Dominguez Hills on February 16th. Both games are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. starts.
