It was night to forget for the CSUN women’s basketball team.
The Matadors concluded their four game road trip with a 106-44 thrashing at the hands of the nationally ranked University of California Golden Bears on Wednesday night.
The loss drops the Matadors to 2-11 on the season.
Jumping out to a 19-11 lead after the first quarter, the Golden Bears used a 21-0 run that spanned both the first and second quarters to put the game away early.
Coming out after halftime, the Matadors managed only 8 points in the third quarter while the Golden Bears continued to pour it on with 35 points, their highest scoring quarter of the game.
The Matadors were unable to overcome a poor shooting start, shooting only 26 percent for the game, including 12 percent from the three point line. On the defensive end, the struggles continued as they allowed the Golden Bears to shoot 68 percent from the field and 80 percent from behind the arc.
Once again, the Matadors key weaknesses, rebounding, turnovers, and interior play, were major factors in the loss.
The Matadors were outrebounded 42-29 which led to 12 second chance points for the Golden Bears. They turned the ball over 14 times, less than the last game, but the Golden Bears still managed to convert those turnovers into 21 points compared to only five points off turnovers for the Matadors. They were bullied once more in the paint, 62-28.
The lone bright spot for the Matadors was senior forward Jasmine Johnson scoring a career high 14 points despite shooting 37.5 percent from the field. She also contributed seven rebounds and two assists. Sophomore guard Serafina Maulupe scored 13 points, but shot only 23.5 percent from the field.
The Golden Bears were led by freshman forward Kristine Anigwe who scored a game high 30 points on 76.5 percent shooting. She also pulled down six rebounds. Sophomore forward Mikayla Cowling added 29 points on 81.3 percent shooting, five rebounds, and four assists.
The Matadors will return home on Saturday Jan. 2 against the Seattle University Redhawks for their final non conference game. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
