BOX SCORE UC San Diego 62, Sonoma State 45  --  Box Score

ROHNERT PARK --  After twenty minutes of action on Saturday night, it looked like Sonoma State women's basketball team might knock off UC San Diego for the first time since the 2007-08 season.  However, a seven-point halftime lead disentegrated quickly under the weight of 40-16 Triton second half advantage as UCSD defeated the hosts 62-45 at The Wolves' Den.  The Seawolves will see their weekend end with a split as they fall to 5-11, 3-9 CCAA.  The second-place Tritons keep pace with the conference front runners, improving to 11-8, 9-3 CCAA on the year.

It took awhile for both teams to find their stroke early.  In fact, only two points were scored in the first four minutes of play; it was a UC San Diego layup by Erin Dautremont at 18:52.  A pair of free throws by Miranda Seto extended the Triton lead to 4-0, but Burgos came right down the floor on Sonoma State's next possession and drained a three-ball to get the Seawolves on the scoreboard.  After the Tritons went back to a three-point lead at 6-3 with 14:47 on the clock, SSU went on a furious 14-4 run over the next six minutes to lead by as much as seven points at 17-10.

UCSD began chipping away at its deficit, coming to within two points at 19-17 with 5:27 left, but the hot hand of the Seawolves put some distance between the two squads to grab their largest lead of the night at 28-19 with under a minute left before the half.  A three-pointer by the Tritons leading scorer, Daisy Feder, cut the deficit to six, but a free throw by Travis Newman with 10 seconds left put Sonoma in the lead at the intermission (29-22).

In the second half, UC San Diego reeled off nine straight points to open the period, erasing a seven-point deficit to take a two-point lead at 31-29.  Both teams would then trade buckets over the next six minutes, but the Tritons, with a narrow 41-39 lead at the 10:32 mark, converted eight consecutive free throws to take a deflating 49-39 lead with 6:35 to play.

It would get no closer from there, as the Seawolf offense had trouble converting against a solid UCSD defense.  In fact, the Seawolves would shoot just 5-of-24 from the field in the second half, lowering their percentage for the game to 32%.

In contrast, the Tritons went from shooting 29.6% in the first half to 54.2% in the second.  They also out-rebounded the Seawolves 40-26.

Travis Newman hit a couple of three-pointers in the first half to spur a team-high 11-point effort.  She also had five rebounds.  Elizabeth Day went for 10 points and five boards, while a pair of freshman, Taylor Acosta and Brianna Burgos, had three assists each.

Dautremont finished the night with 16 points and eight boards.  Teammate Daisy Feder, the CCAA's leading scorer (19.8 ppg), was held below her season average, though she did pour in 12.

Sonoma State will kickstart the second half of the CCAA schedule on the road next week.  The Seawolves will travel to Hayward on Friday to face Cal State East Bay, with tip off scheduled for 5:30 p.m. from Pioneer Gymnasium.