POMONA, Calif. -- Chelsea Carlisle scored a game-high 16 points and Tiffany Hunter tallied 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the UC San Diego women's basketball team to a 48-43 victory over Cal Poly Pomona in a CCAA matchup Saturday evening at Kellogg Gymnasium. UCSD used a 13-1 run in the second half to take control and record its third straight win to begin the season.
The Tritons had a successful opening weekend of conference play, defeating the Broncos Saturday after posting a 66-59 win at Cal State San Bernardino on Friday. UCSD, which won the CCAA regular season crown in 2008-09 at 19-1, improves to 3-0 on the year overall. Head coach Charity Elliott's Tritons have now won 25 of their last 26 games in CCAA play spanning the last three seasons.
Carlisle paved the way for the UCSD offense once again, leading all scorers with 16 points on 7-of-17 shooting. The sophomore guard was 2-for-5 from the three-point line and also finished with two rebounds and two steals.
Hunter, a transfer from Mira Costa College, had the best performance of her young career as a Triton, tallying her first-career double-double. She hit 4-of-9 shots from the field and went 5-for-7 at the free throw line in 30 minutes, a team-high.
Cal Poly Pomona held a 24-21 lead at halftime and took a 30-27 advantage on a layup by Megan Ford with 13:46 remaining before UCSD made its run.
The Tritons' outscored the Broncos 13-1 over the next 8:49, including 10 straight at one point, to turn a three-point deficit into a 40-31 lead with just under five minutes left to play. Carlisle had consecutive hoops during the spurt and Annette Ilg capped the run with a nice jumper in transition.
La'kenya Simon-West answered with a triple and Reyana Colson converted a three-point play to bring Pomona back to within three (42-39) with 1:59 on the clock, but Hunter sank two free throws to stem the tide.
Carlisle hit a jumper to give UCSD a 46-41 cushion with under a minute left and two free throws from Ilg 14 seconds later sealed the victory for the Tritons.
"We had to fight and claw our way to get this win tonight, but we made the plays we needed to down the stretch," Elliott said. "It truly was a team victory."
After shooting a blistering 56% from the field against the Coyotes on Friday, UCSD shot just 33% (18-55) against the Broncos, but outscored CPP 10-4 at the foul line. Pomona, which shot 34% (18-53), held a 42-37 rebounding advantage.
Colson scored 16 points to lead the Broncos, while Ford finished with 10. Both players hauled in 11 rebounds to match Hunter for game-high honors.
The Tritons will now take next week off for final exams before returning to the court December 15 at Cal State East Bay. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. in Hayward.
