UCSD Women Open CCAA Hoop Playoffs with a Win

Emily Osga scored 18 points and Lauren Freidenberg finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds as the third-seeded UC San Diego women's basketball team fought off a determined Chico State squad for a 76-71 victory in a California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament first-round matchup Tuesday night at RIMAC Arena.

The Tritons withstood a shooting barrage by the visitors in the first half and came back to outscore the Wildcats 36-29 in the second to punch their ticket to the conference tournament semifinals this weekend in Hayward. UCSD scored nine unanswered points early in the second stanza to assume control and defeat Chico State for the third time in as many games this season.

UCSD improves to 20-10 overall and advances to the CCAA Tournament semifinals for the third time in four years. The Tritons will take on Cal Poly Pomona on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Cal State East Bay's Pioneer Gymnasium. The second-seeded Broncos defeated No 7 seed Cal State Stanislaus 77-55 on Tuesday.

The Tritons, who had an eight-game winning streak snapped at Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday, put the finishing touches on the 2010-11 regular season in style last Friday, recording a 76-50 victory over California Collegiate Athletic Association nemesis Cal State San Bernardino on the road at Cousoullis Arena.

The Tritons swept the regular-season series with the Wildcats, picking up a 73-53 victory in Chico in January and then recording a 71-60 win in the rematch two weeks ago in La Jolla.

In Friday’s game, Freidenberg scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed four rebounds for UCSD, while Chelsea Carlisle finished with  17 points, eight boards, six assists and a pair of steals.

Carlisle became UCSD's all-time single-eason assist leader with her fifth helper late in the second half, breaking assistant coach Alexis Mezzetta’s mark of 159 set during the 2007-08 campaign. Osga added 10 points, five rebounds and seven assists for the Tritons, while Erin Dautremont also chipped in with 10 off the bench.

UCSD had lost three of its last five meetings with San Bernardino, including a 60-58 decision in the first matchup earlier this season.

On Thursday, the Tritons lost 60-51 to Cal Poly. It was their first road loss since Dec. 3. Pomona had been the last team to defeat UCSD, recording an 82-75 victory on Jan. 2 at RIMAC Arena. Carlisle scored  19 points  to lead the Tritons. 

MEN'S BASKETBALL

The UCSD men’s basketball team closed out its season Friday, losing 76-72 to Cal State San Bernardino at Cousoullis Arena.

The Tritons cut a 13-point first-half deficit to one with just over two minutes remaining, but the Coyotes scored the next four points and held on for the narrow victory.

UCSD's season comes to an end at 11-17 overall and 6-16 in the CCAA. The Tritons finished in 11th place in the conference standings after losing their final three games of the year and six of their last seven. The one win in that span was a big one, as UCSD upset second-place Cal State Dominguez Hills 61-59 on Feb. 18 in Carson.

The top eight teams compete in the post-season tournament.

Senior guard Casey Ryan tallied team highs of 17 points and eight rebounds in his final game as a Triton, finishing 5-of-8 from the field and 7-of-8 at the free throw line.

The CCAA rebounding leader at nearly 10 per game, Ryan finished with a total of 270 boards in 2010-11, a figure that ranks fourth on the all-time single-season list. His career total of 511 rebounds ranks 10th all-time.

James McCann finished with 13 points for UCSD, while Justin Brue and Tyler McGrath added 12 points apiece.

On Thursday, UCSD lost 63-50 to Cal Poly Pomona. Freshman point guard McCann scored 12 points and dished out four assists to lead the Tritons, while junior center Christian Hatch finished with 10 points and five boards.

WOMEN'S WATER POLO

The No. 18 UC San Diego women’s water polo team defeated Cal State Bakersfield, 13-10  on Sunday afternoon to earn 15th place at the UC Irvine Invitational in Corona del Mar Pool.
 
Kirsten Bates and Hanalei Crowell scored three goals apiece as the Tritons climbed back with a nine-goal second half. Leah Gonzalez and Jessica Tran tallied a pair of scores while Melissa Bartow, Allison Delgado and Natalie Peng contributed goals.
 
The win improves the Tritons to 7-8 overall and 4-1 against fellow Western Water Polo Association opponents. It also snaps a five-match losing skid for UCSD.

UCSD fell to No. 17 UC Davis in the Tritons’ opening game of the day, as UCD rallied for three goals in the final frame to take the match 10-9. Bartow scored three goals against the Aggies while Katherine Biehle and Crowell contributed two goals apiece.
 
Crowell led the Tritons with seven goals in the tournament while Bates scored six times. Freshmen Bartow and Biehle finished with four goals. Allie Taylor stopped 11 opponents’ shots over the two days and Kristen Ostosh followed with nine saves.
 
UCSD will be back in action on Friday, March 11 at 6:00 p.m. against CSUB in Canyonview Pool. The following two days the Tritons will take part in the Aztec Invitational, March 12-13, at San Diego State.

BASEBALL

Tim Shibuya threw his first complete game of the season and improved to 4-0 as the No. 1 UC San Diego baseball team defeated Cal State Monterey Bay 8-3 in the front end of a doubleheader Saturday. The Otters used a five-run fifth inning to down the Tritons 5-3 in the nightcap.

On Sunday, the Tritons split a pair of one-run games at Cal State Monterey Bay.
A sacrifice fly by Danny Susdorf in the top of the seventh lifted the Tritons  to a 4-3 victory in the nightcap. CSUMB won Sunday's first game, 8-7.

It's the first time since last season that UCSD has gone 2-2 in a four-game series. Cal State San Bernardino snapped the Tritons' 19-game win streak when it won the first and  third games of a series from April 1-3, 2010.

With its second split in as many days, UCSD moved to 12-4 overall and 5-3 in league games. Cal State Monterey Bay is 5-7 overall and 2-2 in the CCAA.
 
Reliever Justin Burns (1-0) got his first win as a Triton in Sunday’s 4-3 win. Burns, a junior transfer from the College of San Mateo, entered the game in the fifth with two outs and the bases loaded. The Otters had already scored a run in the inning to tie the game at 3-3. Burns struck out his first batter looking to get UCSD out of the jam.
 
It was the first career save for Jeff Rauh, a junior. Starter Greg Selarz went just three innings for the Tritons, giving up two unearned runs on five hits. He hit a batter and gave up a double while striking out three.

Shibuya picked up another award Friday as he was named the first West Region Pitcher of the Week for the 2011 season by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association. He was also tabbed the Wilson/CCAA Pitcher of the Week for his performance.

The Tritons return home to host San Francisco State March 5-7. Friday's opener is set for a 6 p.m. start under the lights at Triton Ballpark. Saturday's doubleheader begins at noon and Sunday's final game gets under way at 11 a.m.

SOFTBALL

The No. 10 UC San Diego softball team's Sunday doubleheader with Cal State San Bernardino was  moved to Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Triton Softball Field due to inclement weather.

UCSD defeated CSUSB in the opening two games of the teams' series on Friday. Kris Lesovsky's walk-off three-run homer lifted the Tritons to a 4-1 victory in the opening game and Mya Romero followed with a 2-for-3 performance in the team's 5-2 win in game two.

UCSD is 14-2 overall and 8-1 in CCAA play.

The home run by Lesovsky  marked UCSD’s first this season and was her  19th career dinger, moving her into second place in school history while passing Amy Mettee’s (2001-04) career total of 18.

Camille Gaito (8-0) would strike out five batters through the first three innings in getting the victory in game one on Friday. It was her seventh complete game this season. Her seven innings pitched gave her 360.2 innings for her career, moving her into sixth place all time in school history.

Lesovsky finished the game 2-for-3 with a home run, a double, two runs scored and three RBI. Brown went 2-for-3 with a run scored.   

In the second game, Tess Granath (5-2) was the winning pitcher.

TRACK & FIELD

The UC San Diego track and field teams opened the 2011 season on Saturday, taking part in the 15th Annual Rossi Relays at the Burns Track & Field Complex on the campus of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
 
In addition to claiming victories in a total of seven events, three Tritons registered NCAA qualifying marks to highlight the opening day of competition.
 
The day's biggest highlight came from redshirt senior Danielle Thu, who placed first the hammer throw in her first appearance since winning the national title in the event in 2009. Thu uncorked an impressive toss of 193'4", collecting an NCAA automatic qualifying mark in the process.
 
Senior sprinter Kelly Fogarty had a good day as well, winning the 100-meter dash with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 12.00. She finished one spot in front of teammate Kathleen Hitchens, who clocked in at 12.77.
 
Senior Stephanie LeFever also picked up a provisional qualifier on Saturday, finishing first in the women's long jump with an even 19'. She finished second in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.56.
 
Theresa Richards was UCSD's final individual event winner on the women's side, placing first in the javelin throw with a toss of 129'9". Jessica Miklaski took second in the event with a mark of 123'8".
 
UCSD also won the 4x100 relay with a time of 47.73, while the Tritons' 'B' unit finished third in the event at 49.71.
 
Senior Jesse Morrill was the lone event winner on the men's side, finishing first in the 3,000 with a time of 8:41.49. He finished two spots in front of teammate Alex Corliss, who clocked in at 8:52.33 to claim third.
 
Sophomore Nolan O'Dowd finished second in the men's 400 hurdles at 56.24, while freshman Ka Wai Ng took second in the triple jump with a mark of 47'2.5".
 
The Tritons will be back in action this weekend when they host the San Diego Collegiate Challenge on Saturday at the Triton Track and Field Stadium. The meet will begin with the throwing and jumping events at noon, followed by the track events at 1:05 p.m.

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL

A night after playing its best match ever against No. 2 Brigham Young, the No. 13 UC San Diego men's volleyball team couldn't keep the momentum going and were swept in Friday's rematch at Smith Fieldhouse. Scores were 25-17, 25-16 and 25-22.

UC San Diego (6-12, 3-9 MPSF), which took BYU to five sets for the first time ever Thursday night, ran into a much hotter-hitting Cougar squad. BYU (13-4, 9-3 MPSF) attacked at .460 with 38 kills and nine errors in 63 attempts and swung well over .500 in sets one and two.

The top-blocking squad in the country, BYU held an 11.5 to 7.0 advantage over UCSD.

UCSD, which hit .276 (29-13-58), spread its offense around, with seven players accountingvo for 29 kills and nobodying more than nine. Outside Carl Eberts had the high kills total and also added a team-best 11.5 points for the Tritons. Freshman setter Mike Brunsting hit .714 with six kills and setter Phil Bannan had four blocks.
 
The Tritons return home and will be looking to snap their four-match losing streak heading into the second half of the MPSF season. UCSD hosts Pacific on Friday and Stanford on Saturday. Both matches are scheduled for a 7 p.m. first serve.

--Compiled from press releases issued by the UCSD sports information office