CHICO, Calif. - The UC San Diego women's basketball team could not overcome a 17-point halftime deficit as they fell to Chico State 76-70 in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) matchup on Friday at Art Acker Stadium.
With the loss, UCSD drops to 11-9 overall and 9-6 in the CCAA while the Wildcats improve to 8-11 overall and 5-10 in the conference.
The Tritons got up 4-2 to start the game, their only lead, after two Farrah Shokoor layups. However, Chico State would get a pair of 6-0 runs and an 8-0 run to outscore UCSD 42-23 for the rest of the period.
The Wildcats opened up a 10-point advantage, 23-13, after a Hannah Womack layup. Chico State would get their biggest lead of the game, 42-22, after a Brooke Bowen basket with 2:36 left remaining in the first half.
The Tritons trailed 44-27 at halftime as the Wildcats shot 57.7 percent (15-26) from the field and 50 percent (3-6) from behind the arc in the period.
"In the first half, we were really on our heels. They were more aggressive than we were," said Triton head coach Heid VanDerveer.
UCSD started the second half on fire as Haley Anderson, Miranda Seto and Shokoor combined to score 11 unanswered points to cut the deficit to six, 44-38. The Tritons kept on battling and eventually tied the score at 55-55 after a McKennan Bertsch layup with 7:31 left to play.
The two schools would go back-and-forth for a while, but the Wildcats would get two key three-pointers to open up a 69-62 lead with 42 seconds left to play and eventually get the win.
"We gave ourselves a chance with eight minutes left and battled right down towards the end. They made more plays in the final eight minutes than we did." VanDerveer said.
UCSD could not stop Chico State from the perimeter as the Wildcats made seven threes with a 43.8 percent clip from behind the arc.
Shokoor grabbed her 10th double-double of the season with a game-high 22 points and a game-best 17 rebounds. Seto contirbuted 11 points a Beth Mounier added 12 points off the bench.
Whitney Branham was the leading scorer for the Wildcats with 19 points.
The Tritons will continue their roadtrip and take on Cal State Stanislaus on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
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