BELLINGHAM, Wash. - The UC San Diego women's basketball team (1-2) was defeated by No. 21 Western Washington (2-2) in overtime, 80-77, Saturday at the West Region Crossover Classic in Carver Gym.
The Vikings came out of the gates hot as they nabbed their biggest lead in the game at 18:21 left in the first half, 5-0. UCSD answered back shortly afterwards and the game would be tied 7-7 with 14:43 left in the period.
Over the next two minutes, the Tritons would go on an 8-2 run to get a six point lead, 15-9, capped off by a Taylor Tanita layup. Western Washington would go on a 10-0 run of its own as the Tritons trailed, 15-19, with 9:01 left in the stanza.
The Tritons would not falter and went on another run, this time outscoring the Vikings 12-0, ignited by a pair of Stephanie Yano free throws and two threes by Haley Anderson on back-to-back posessions. UCSD led Western Washington 27-19 with 5:27 left in the half.
The Vikings would go on to close the gap to two, 31-29, to end the half as they outscored the Tritons 10-4 to end the period.
The two schools went back and forth in the second stanza as neither team seemed to get the clear advantage for the majority of the period. With 6:02 left in regulation, UCSD saw the biggest lead of the game as they led Western Washington by nine, 63-54, coming on the back end of a Dana Webster layup.
With 1:13 left in regulation, the Tritons led the Vikings by seven, 72-65. Western Washington's Jenni White would hit a three pointer and Taylor Peacocke sunk in a pair of shots at the charity stripe to make it a two point game as UCSD still had the advantage, 72-70. On the next Triton posession, Farrah Shokoor turned it over and with 28 seconds left in the period, White would hit a jump shot to tie the game and force overtime.
The Tritons grabbed the lead first in the extra period as McKennan Bertsch was able to put back a Miranda Seto miss. It would be the last time that UCSD would see a lead as Katie Colrad connected on a mid-range jumper and would give the Vikings the lead for good as the Tritons trailed 74-76.
Trailing by three, 77-80, UCSD had a few good opportunities on their final posession to send the game to a second overtime. Seto's initial three point attempt was blocked, but Anderson was able to get the offensive rebound for the Tritons and let one fly that did not connect. Conveniently Shokoor was there to get the board and kicked it out to Seto for another try behind the arc, but missed as the buzzer rang.
Seto scored a game-high 22 points. Shokoor contributed a game-best 14 rebounds and added eight points. Anderson and Bertsch were also in double figures as they scored 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Seto was named to the All-Tournament Team for her performance over the two-day stretch. On the first day, she scored 17 points.
Western Washington was led by Taylor Peacocke's 16 points.
Each of the Tritons' games this year have been close as all three were decided by a margin of five points or less. Tonight's game marked the second matchup that UCSD has gone to overtime this season.
The Tritons will have six days off before hosting the 2014 UCSD Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 28 and 29 at RIMAC Arena. The Tritons will play Academy of Art on Friday, Nov. 28 at 5 p.m. and Azusa Pacific on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 3 p.m.
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