OCEANSIDE, Calif. - Six Tritons scored in double figures as the 20th-ranked UC San Diego women's basketball team trounced local rival Cal State San Marcos, 84-56, in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) contest Thursday at MiraCosta College Gymnasium.
With a seventh straight win to match their longest such streak this season, the Tritons are now 21-3 overall and 16-2 in conference play. They remain second in the standings, narrowly behind Cal State Dominguez Hills (17-7, 15-1 CCAA), which rounds out the league slate with four road tests, beginning Friday night at third-place Cal State East Bay. The Cougars drop to 6-16 overall and 4-13 in the CCAA.
Senior guard Jamie Katuna led UCSD with a game-high 17 points and dished out a game-best four assists. Senior forward Farrah Shokoor recorded her 14th double-double of the season with 14 points and 16 rebounds. Junior guard Beth Mounier, redshirt sophomore guard Taylor Tanita, sophomore guard Paige Song and freshman guard Joleen Yang chipped in 14, 12, 10 and 10 points, respectively. Song's total was a career high as the San Jose product reached double digits for the first time. She was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, hitting both of her long-range efforts. As a team, UCSD shot 57.9 percent (33-57) from the field and 50 percent (9-18) from behind the arc.
“(We're) very excited about our great team effort tonight,” said head coach Heidi VanDerveer. “I thought that we came out and had tremendous pace to our offense. We got out and got some easy baskets.”
The Tritons jumped out to a 19-15 lead after the first quarter. CSUSM cut the margin to one, 23-22, after a layup from Paige Barber in the second frame. It would be the closest the Cougars would get. UCSD finished the second period with a layup from Shokoor to go up by 12 points, 42-30.
The Tritons outscored the Cougars 27-16 in the third quarter, capped off by a Tanita layup with eight seconds left, to take a 69-46 advantage before the final quarter.
UCSD kept increasing its lead in the fourth frame. The Tritons grabbed their biggest lead, 84-56, after a Yang trey with 1:42 left, which ended up being the final score.
Savannah Camp led the Cougars with 14 points.
UCSD closes out its regular season with two home dates. The Tritons host SF State on Friday, Feb. 26, and Sonoma State on Saturday, Feb. 27, for Senior Night. Both games are scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m.
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