Box Score
LOS ANGELES – Cal State L.A.'s women's basketball team concluded its home schedule with a California Collegiate Athletic Association loss to UC San Diego, but the Golden Eagles put up quite a battle.
The Golden Eagles sliced a 21-point deficit down to six points, but they still fell to the Tritons, 71-63, Saturday night in the Eagles Nest. Cal State L.A. (7-19, 4-16 CCAA) was unable to complete what would have been their first weekend sweep of the season.
The Golden Eagles remain one game back of eighth-place in the conference, which is now occupied by San Francisco State and Sonoma State. The top eight teams will qualify for the CCAA Championship Tournament. Cal State L.A. will conclude the regular season with road games at Sonoma State and Humboldt State next week.
UC San Diego (18-9, 16-4 CCAA) remains in third place in the conference and guaranteed itself a home game in the first round of the CCAA Tournament. The Tritons were the conference's regular-season champions a year ago.
Chelsea Carlisle had 21 points to lead the Tritons, while Megan Perry had 10 points and five rebounds.
Cal State L.A. shot 35.8 percent (19-of-53), while UC San Diego shot 41.4 percent (24-of-58). UC San Diego held a 41-36 rebounding advantage and committed 12 turnovers to 13 for Cal State L.A.
The Golden Eagles were 22-of-29 from the free-throw line, while UC San Diego hit just 12-of-23.
The Golden Eagles scored the first four points of the game on back-to-back baskets by Jefferson, but the Tritons broke a 6-6 tie on a 3-pointer by Perry and led the rest of the way. After a basket by Ramon cut UC San Diego's lead to 11-9, the Tritons scored the next seven points to open up an 18-9 advantage.
The Tritons led by as many as 15 points in the first half at 36-21 before a basket by Ramon made it 36-23 at halftime.
UC San Diego opened up its biggest lead of the game, 54-33, with 12:40 to play and still led by 19 points, 57-38, with nine minutes to go before a 3-pointer by Michelle Salami started a 9-0 run for the Golden Eagles that made it 57-47 with seven minutes still to play.
UC San Diego, though, regrouped and didn't let the lead dip under 10 points until a layup by Jefferson and four free throws by Ramon made it 67-60 with one minute left and two free throws by Ramon made it 68-62 with 50 seconds to play.
That was as close as the Golden Eagles could get.
Alisha Belt had six points and a game-high eight rebounds for the Golden Eagles.
Cal State L.A. will return to action on Wednesday with a road game at Sonoma State.
