POMONA, Calif. – Jennifer Bryant recorded a career-high 17 points but a tough shooting night overall for the 22nd-ranked Cal Poly Pomona women's basketball team Thursday led to a 69-53 loss to No. 1-ranked UC San Diego.
The result drops the Broncos to 12-5 overall and 8-5 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assocation (CCAA). UCSD maintains its perfect marks of 19-0 overall and 13-0 through league play.
Bryant went 6-for-10 from the floor, including five three-pointers, and
Charlene Popoff sunk four of her six attempts while almost tallying a double-double. Aside from those two, the rest of the Broncos' squad went 12-for-48.
Senior center
Megan Ford turned in a tremendous rebounding performance, grabbing 17 boards. That total matches her career high, which was set early in the 2010-11 season.
The visiting Tritons raced out to a 7-0 lead Thursday, a run that featured five-straight points from Emily Osga. CPP was able to tie it though with a 7-0 spurt of its own, with that stretch including a
Sarah Semenero trey and four points from Popoff.
UCSD held a nine-point edge going into the final two minutes of the first half but with the Broncos getting late points from
Ariel Marsh and
Rosslyn Beard, the halftime score settled at a seven-point difference - 24-17 - in favor of the Tritons.
Early in the second half, Ford and Popoff combined for some nice moves in the paint to help CPP cut the visitors' edge from 10 points to five across a one-minute span. When UCSD once again ramped its advantage up to 10, the Broncos' starting guards helped trim the gap.
Beard dropped in a layup at the 13:36 mark and Semenero followed that up with back-to-back buckets, including one that started with her steal and finished with her own layup on the opposite end after going coast-to-coast.
In the final minutes though, it was the Tritons pulling away for the 16-point win as four UCSD players finished with double-digit point totals. Osga and Emily Dautremont recorded double-double performances.
Up next for the Broncos will be a 5:30 p.m. Saturday matchup against Cal State San Bernardino at Kellogg Gym.
