Lady Otters Lose on Senior Night

Evan FitzGerald, Staff Reporter

evan_fitzgerald@csumb.edu

March 6, 2008

Despite the home court advantage during senior night, the CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB) Otters were not able to win their final game of the season, falling to the UC San Diego (UCSD) Tritons 74-50 in the Kelp Bed on Feb 28.

There were four seniors playing in their final game for CSUMB: Alma Lopez, a Liberal Studies guard, Britnea Moore, a guard and Human Communications major, Krista Herr, the sole forward and Social and Behavioral Studies major and Sabrina Jenkins, a guard and Teledramatic Arts and Technology major. 

The game looked promising in the very beginning, with Lopez getting a steal and an easy lay-up. From there things didn't improve, and with 15:40 left in the first half the home team was down by 11 points. The Otters were not able to gain the advantage of gaining rebounds, as the team was running away from the basket to get back on defense while the ball was still being shot. The home side was only able to score 10 points in the first 11:30 minutes, causing them to be down 20 points early. At the half they were behind 46-27.

In the second half things went the same as it had in the first, though the Otters were able to pull within nine points. However, due to anger issues on the court several technical fouls were called on the Otters, and UCSD was able to pull ahead to finish up the game winning by 24 points.

"We can look forward to a better season next year," said Aly Tsuchiyama, a junior guard and Business major. "We didn't win the close games we needed to. Our returners will have more experience now."

Lopez led the Otters with 13 points in her final game and the rest of the seniors were able to combine for 17 points total. The Otters will have to replace their height in the post, their starting point guard, their school record holder for points and a defensive specialist before next year. For more information about women's basketball visit: www.otterathletics.com.