CHICO, Calif. ? The ninth-ranked UC San Diego women's basketball team continued its season-long domination of the California Collegiate Athletic Association on Thursday, defeating Chico State 60-46 in a conference pairing at Acker Gymnasium.
Michelle Osier led all scorers with 17 points,
Chelsea Carlisle finished with 14, and
Alexis Gaskin added 11 as the Tritons won for the 17th time in 18 league games this season.
With the victory, UCSD improves to 25-3 overall, having won 18 of its last 19. At 18-1, the 2008-09 Tritons have completed the most successful conference season since UC San Diego joined the CCAA for the 2000-01 campaign. Head coach
Charity Elliott has now guided the Tritons to a record of 32-7 in conference play over the last two seasons.
Chico State falls to 15-12 overall and 11-8 in the CCAA with the loss.
Osier led UCSD in scoring for the 16th time this season and grabbed a game-high 13 boards for her fifth straight double-double. Carlisle hit 6-of-12 shots from the field and had a big night on the glass, herself, finishing with eight boards, which matched her high mark for the season. The Tritons outrebounded the Wildcats 36-21 overall.
Gaskin finished 4-of-6 from the floor to reach double figures for the seventh time in eight games and also recorded five rebounds and two assists.
The Wildcats led 23-20 following a layup from Renee Goldoff with two minutes remaining in the first half, but Carlisle answered with triple at the other end to tie the score. Osier followed with back-to-back baskets and Carlisle scored in transition as UCSD closed the period on a 9-0 run to take a 29-23 lead at the break.
The Tritons led by as many as nine points early in the second half, before a layup from Goldoff and four straight points from Christine Vest cut the deficit to 32-29 with 16:08 left. Osier responded with two free throws and then hit a midrange jumper to push UCSD's lead back to seven, 36-29.
Chico State closed to within 39-35 on Melissa Richardson's layup two minutes later, but Carlisle scored off a steal by
Annette Ilg and then hit a jumper to put the Tritons in front 43-35 with 11:19 remaining. Taylor Lydon hit a three for the Wildcats on the ensuing possession, but
Lindsey Dreher knocked down a jumper and
Kristen Cabral drained a three of her own as UCSD took a 10-point lead, 48-38 with less than eight minutes to play.
The Wildcats would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way and the Tritons took their biggest lead with the final 14-point margin.
UCSD shot 47% for the game, connecting on 24-of-51 shots, while Chico made 20-of-50 attempts, 40%. The Tritons outscored the Wildcats 10-2 on second chance points and UCSD held an 8-2 edge in fastbreak points.
Vest scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting to lead the way for the Wildcats, while Goldoff finished with 10.
The Tritons will wrap up the regular season Friday night at Cal State Stanislaus. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m.
