LA JOLLA, Calif. - Junior Michelle Osier scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the 4th-ranked UC San Diego women's basketball team to a convincing 60-46 victory over 8th-ranked Chico State on Saturday evening in RIMAC Arena. With the win the Tritons improve to 7-0 on the season and 2-0 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play while the Wildcats fall to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in league action.
UCSD struck first with a layup by senior Alexis Gaskin and then went on a 13-2 run midway through the first half to take a 21-10 lead with just less than eight minutes to go in the first stanza. Chico State would answer with a 10-0 run over the next five minutes to pull within one point at 21-20 with 2:38 to go. Both teams would play it close during that time as the game was knotted at 25 apiece going into intermission.
After the break the two squad would take turns holding the lead as neither team led by more than two points until an Osier layup at the 8:53 mark of the second half gave UCSD a 41-37 lead. First year head coach Charity Elliott's squad would push that lead out to as many as 16 points before settling on the 14-point margin of victory. The Tritons entered the contest having won all six games this season by at least 10 points and by an average of 14.8 per win.
Osier also added three steals in her standout performance while fellow junior Erin Noonan added nine points, five rebounds and three assists. Gaskin ended the evening with eight points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Alexis Mezzetta netted only two points but came up with three rebounds, six assists and three steals in the win.
Renee Goldoff scored 19 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in the loss for Chico State. Amanda Monteith chipped in with 12 points and five rebounds before fouling out with just over three minutes to play in the game.
The Tritons will now take a two week break before resuming its schedule with a 1 p.m. home game against Grand Canyon University on Sunday, December 16th. The brief rest will be used by the squad to study for final exams which run during the week of December 10-15.
