BOX SCORE
ROHNERT PARK, Calif.- Led by a double-double from
Aly Conway in her final home game, the Sonoma State women's basketball team gave UC San Diego a scare before the top-ranked Tritons pulled away for a 78-58 win in the regular season finale on Friday night at The Wolves' Den. The Seawolves narrowed their deficit to just five points midway through the second half before UCSD surged ahead down the stretch. Interestingly enough, the Seawolves and Tritons look like they'll face each other again in just four days, this time down in La Jolla, as the No. 8 and No. 1 seeds, respectively, in the CCAA Championship Tournament.
The Seawolves see their record fall to 11-15, 9-13 CCAA on the season. The Tritons improve to 27-1, 21-1 CCAA as they close the door on their third CCAA regular season title in the last four years. They won it by an astonishing six games this season, the widest margin in the conference since Cal State Bakersfield in 2002-03.
The Tritons, ranked No. 1 in the country for several weeks now, came into Friday's contest on the heels of their first loss of the season, on Wednesday at Humboldt State. With that sour taste in their mouth, they wasted little time buidling up a lead, going up ten at 21-11 just over six minutes in. Sonoma State would hang around for a while, trailing by just four at the 9:19 mark before the Tritons went on a 12-0 run to spread things out.
UCSD would push the lead to as many as 18 in the first half before the Seawolves closed it to 14 at the break, 43-29.
It was midway through the second half when things got a bit interesting and stoked to life the sizable home crowd. Trailing 44-37, the Seawolves went on a 9-0 run to narrow the gap to 47-42 with 12:33 left. After a blocked shot by Conway, the Seawolves had the ball and a chance to cut the deficit to two or three, but a
Travis Newman three-pointer clanked off the iron and a
Desirae Sanchez jumper also hit the rim. UC San Diego would answer with a pair of free throws, then a three-pointer by the CCAA's leading scorer, Chelsea Carlisle, to push the margin back to ten.
Conway had a huge night on both ends of the floor, scoring 13 points and grabbing 13 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. She also blocked three shots to put her just one behind the all-time leader in that category, Shelley Chambers (54 from 1989-93). The night also featured another milestone for Conway as she passed the 500 point mark for her career.
Jaclyn Bisordi, like Conway, playing in her final game at the Wolves' Den, had 11 points and a team-high three assists.
Aly Henington, the Seawolves' other senior, had four points.
Daisy Feder led all scorers with 26 points for the Tritons. Carlisle finished with 12 points and six assists and Erin Dautremont contributed 16 points.