LA JOLLA, Calif. - The top-seeded UC San Diego women's basketball team used a big first half to build a 22-point halftime lead and went on to defeat No. 8 seed Cal State Dominguez Hills 73-48 in a California Collegiate Athletic Association First Round matchup on Tuesday night at RIMAC Arena.
Annette Ilg scored a game-high 21 points and
Chelsea Carlisle finished with 12 to lead the Tritons past the short-handed Toros for the third time in as many games this season.
UCSD improves to 25-3 overall and advances to the CCAA Tournament Semifinals for the first time since the 2008 season. The Tritons will now travel to Arcata, Calif. to take on host Humboldt State on Friday at 3:00 p.m. The fourth-seeded Lumberjacks defeated No. 5 seed Cal State Monterey Bay 77-56 on Tuesday.
Cal State Dominguez Hills' season comes to an end at 10-18.
Ilg scored the Tritons' first nine points of the game and finished with 16 in the first half, propelling UCSD to a commanding 40-18 advantage at the break. She connected on 4-of-5 attempts from the three-point line, as the Tritons shot 47% through the games' first 20 minutes.
"I really challenged our team to come out with the type of urgency that we knew Dominguez was going to have," head coach Charity Elliott said. "Annette really got us going in the first half and pretty much single-handedly shot us out of the Toros' zone."
Ilg would finish 7-of-12 from the field for her third 20-point game of the season, while also grabbing seven rebounds in 24 minutes. Tuesday's performance marked her highest scoring output since finishing with a career-best 24 in UCSD's double-overtime win over Seattle Pacific in December.
"Sometimes you have off-shooting nights and sometimes you have good nights, and I had good night tonight," Ilg said. "My teammates were doing great things and getting the ball to me in position to do something with it, so I have to credit them for that."
Carlisle, who was named the CCAA MVP earlier in the day, finished just 4-of-11 from the field, but sank two threes and dished out a game-high seven assists.
Ilg's fourth three-pointer gave the Tritons a 14-5 advantage with 14:33 remaining in the opening half and back-to-back layups from Charity Smith and Emily Osga made it 20-7 with 11 minutes left in the period. UCSD would score 12 of the next 14 points to take a 23-point lead at 32-9 and Daisy Feder's triple gave the Tritons' their biggest advantage at 40-15 with seven seconds remaining.
Ilg nearly outscored the Toros by herself in the opening period, but MacKenzie Mathias' half court shot at the buzzer made it 40-18 at the break.
CSUDH shot 23% against the UCSD defense in the first half, scoring just nine points through the game's first 15 and a half minutes.
The Toros closed to within 54-40 with 6:56 remaining, but the Tritons answered with an 8-2 run to take a 62-42 lead and put the game out of reach.
UCSD shot 43% (25-58) for the game, while CSUDH finished at 34.5% (19-55). The Tritons went 9-for-22 from behind the three-point arc, 41%, and held a commanding 46-29 rebounding advantage.
Mathias and Brandie McCann scored 13 points apiece to pace the Toros, combining for 26 of the team's 48 points. Cal State Dominguez Hills was without its eading scorer and rebounder Neka Mixon, who suffered a season-ending injury two weeks ago.
