Weekend college roundup: USD, SDSU, UCSD all stay hot in women’s hoops

San Diego State and UC San Diego are off to winning starts in defense of their women’s conference basketball titles, while the University of San Diego has won two straight heading into the start of West Coast Conference play on the road.

With conference-opening wins at Fresno State and home against Boise State on Saturday, the San Diego State women are one of three teams – joining UNLV and Colorado State – off to 2-0 starts in Mountain West Conference play.

The Aztecs (8-3) won 63-53 in Fresno last Wednesday to score a seventh straight win over the Bulldogs. SDSU then romped to an 83-54 victory over Boise State on Saturday at Viejas Arena.

Guard Naomi Panganiban has led the Aztecs in scoring in four straight games with a 17.0 average during the run.

USD (6-7) and UCSD (5-5) have each won three of their last four games.

San Marcos men sweep

Cal State San Marcos’ men’s basketball team swept a pair of California Collegiate Athletic Association games at home over the weekend.

The Cougars (5-4, 2-2) rallied from a 13-point deficit with a 54-point second half to defeat Chico State 83-76 on Sunday afternoon after defeating Cal Poly Humboldt 64-56 on Friday.

CSUSM again was led by the senior tandem of San Diego City College transfers Keavie Love and Dexter Stratton. Guard Love (El Camino High School) had 33 points over the two wins on 10-for-17 shooting. The 6-8 Stratton (Mater Dei Catholic High School) had 30 points and 18 rebounds in the two games. Guard Nate Simon had 29 points, a game-high 19 coming against Chico State.

The week wasn’t as kind to San Diego’s other area Division II teams.

Point Loma Nazarene men’s and women’s basketball teams both lost PacWest Conference games at Azusa Pacific, while the CSUSM women’s team lost three games at home.

The 22nd-ranked PLNU men (8-3) were beaten 75-73 at the buzzer after leading by 19 points with 18 minutes to play. Andrew Nagy led the Sea Lions with 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting, while James Nobles had 10 points and nine rebounds. Jake Lifgren and Jack Wistrcill each scored nine points off the bench, but the Sea Lions were just 9 for 30 in the second half, going 3 for 14 from 3-point range to fall to 3-2 in conference play.

The PLNU women (8-3) are now 4-1 in PacWest play after losing 72-65 despite getting 20 points and nine rebounds from Ruby Vlahov. Eiley Tippins had 12 points and seven rebounds, Maddie Mersch had 13 points off the bench and Hannah Golan pulled down 12 rebounds.

The CSUSM women started the week losing to 20th-ranked Central Washington 68-50 before losing CCAA games to Cal Poly Humboldt (76-65) and Chico State (79-66). Kaity Haan led the Cougars with 58 points and 18 rebounds over the three games. Tatum Tamashiro had 36 total points and 10 rebounds.

JC basketball

San Diego City College (9-4) and Cuyamaca College (6-6) opened men’s conference play with back-to-back wins last week, while the MiraCosta College women won their own tournament to complete pre-Pacific Coast Athletic Conference play with a perfect 16-0 record.

The Knights and Palomar College are each 7-4 in non-conference games, the only PCAC teams with winning records in non-conference play.

SDCC defeated Grossmont (104-77) and San Diego Mesa (89-85) last week to open defense of its PCAC title. Junior Camacho led six Knights in double figures with 23 on the road against the Griffins. Dylan Griffin (University City High School) scored 31 points and Camacho has 22 at home against Mesa.

Cuyamaca defeated Miramar 56-53 and Mira Costa 62-57 going into the Cuyamaca Classic. Palomar opened PCAC play with a 81-74 win over Southwestern, with Tore-Andre Gray coming off the bench to score 30 points in 28 minutes.

MiraCosta defeated West Los Angeles 97-29 in the championship game of the MiraCosta Holiday Invitational last Friday and will have a 19-day break before opening PCAC play Jan. 7 at Imperial Valley.

Women’s diving

San Diego State’s Isabella Gomez and Alina Skrocki posted NCAA zone qualifying marks while finishing third and fifth, respectively, in the platform competition over the weekend at the Riverside Collegiate Invitational at UCLA.

Gomez, a junior transfer from New Mexico, also finished second in the 3-meter springboard. Skrocki, who is also a junior, placed second in the 1-meter springboard just ahead of Gomez.

Keira Kuderka placed third in the 3-meter competition, followed by Aztecs Sophia Hineline (fifth), Skrocki (sixth), Lucy Chavez (seventh) and Meja Palmer (ninth). Chavez finished sixth in her Aztec platform debut followed by Hineline (eighth) and Palmer (10th). Palmer was sixth in the 1-meter, followed by Hineline (seventh), Chavez (eighth) and Kuderka (ninth).