SAN MARCOS, Calif. - The 17th-ranked University of California San Diego women's basketball team never trailed and defeated No. 2 California Baptist by a final score of 82-74 as part of the San Marcos Classic, Saturday at The Sports Center on the campus of Cal State San Marcos.
The Tritons are now 2-0 in the 2016-17 season. The Lancers drop to 3-2. CBU was UC San Diego's highest-ranked victim since producing a 71-61 win against second-ranked Glenville State in the 2006-07 national quarterfinals in Kearney, Neb.
"I'm very excited about our win tonight and being able to put two back-to-back games together where we figure out ways to win," said UCSD head coach Heidi VanDerveer. "Every game is a puzzle and the team that figures out the puzzle typically wins."
UCSD was led by junior guard Taylor Tanita's 21 points, which equalled her career best on 8-for-11 shooting, and game-high nine assists to go with three steals. Sophomore guard Joleen Yang, senior forward Cassie MacLeod and senior guard Beth Mounier pitched in 17, 11 and 10 points, respectively. Junior forward Dalayna Sampton grabbed a game-best 10 rebounds. CBU's Kamille Diaz and Courtney Nelson had 27 and 17 points, respectively.
The Tritons shot 51.6 percent (32-62) from the floor, including 54.2 percent (13-24) from behind the arc. They last hit 13 three-pointers at Cal State East Bay on Jan. 3, 2011. The Lancers had a field goal percentage of 45.5 (30-66) for the game and went 40 percent (8-20) on three-pointers. UCSD won the rebounding battle 37-28 and used its depth, outscoring CBU 23-7 on bench points.
The Tritons raced out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back. UCSD grabbed its biggest lead of the game, 28-11, with 39 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The Tritons led 28-13 at the end of the period thanks to a 68.8 percent (11-16) field-goal clip, going a perfect 5-for-5 from behind the arc.
"We came out with a tremendous amount of energy and had people really focused on what we needed to do. Our defensive stops translated into our offensive tempo," VanDerveer said.
The Lancers started to slowly chip away at UCSD's lead in the second. A Yang trey gave the Tritons a 16-point advantage, but CBU closed out the first half with four consecutive points to make it 44-32 at halftime.
The Lancers closed the margin to six in the middle of the third, 48-42, thanks to a combined 10 points from the duo of Cassidy Mihalko and Diaz to begin the second half. Back-to-back three-pointers from Tanita and junior guard Paige Song brought UCSD lead back to double digits. CBU responded and got it down to single digits as the Tritons led 58-50 with one quarter to go.
The Lancers closed the gap to six points with a Nelson layup to open the fourth period. UCSD would not allow CBU to get that close again until 24 seconds left in the game with the score at 80-74. The Tritons hit the necessary free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.
UCSD will continue its non-conference slate of the season schedule at the Crossover Classic hosted by Western Washington. The Tritons will battle Seattle Pacific on Friday, Nov. 18 at 5 p.m., and Western Washington on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
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