ARCATA, Calif. -- Humboldt State's women's basketball team dropped its first home game of the season, 78-63, to visiting UC San Diego Thursday in Lumberjack Arena.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Lumberjacks, who fell to 18-3 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association and 22-4 overall. The Tritons improved to 15-6 in the conference and 17-9 overall.

HSU's offense missed its mark, and it shot just over 33 percent (22-for-64) from the field. Only two Jacks, Kersey Wilcox and Nikki Powell, were able to reach double figures on the scoreboard with 18 and 10 points, respectively.

"This is a really good UC San Diego team and a lot of it had to do with the fact that they are really good," said HSU head coach Joddie Gleason. "They are a playoff team, and they are playoff ready. They defended very well and made us take challenged shots, and we didn't make them."

Despite their offensive woes, the Jacks were only down two points at the half, 34-32, and they narrowed the deficit to just five, 64-59, with four minutes left to play.

But the lack of offense translated to bad transition defense, and UC San Diego went on a 14-5 run to end the game.

"We didn't have enough offensive power to overcome our lapses on the defensive end," Gleason said. "We gave up too many transitions buckets for them. We felt like we were grinding it out on the offensive end and trying to make plays, and then we would give them easy layups on the other end. That just can't happen against a good team. They will make you pay."

Farrah Shokoor the CCAA's leading rebounder (12.2 per game) led all scores with a double-double — 20 points, 16 rebounds, along with four blocks and two steals for UC San Diego.

With Cal Poly Pomona visiting Lumberjack Arena Saturday, HSU will have to adjust quickly to its first home loss.

The Green and Gold will have some added motivation as they celebrate Senior Night Saturday. The team will honor their four starting seniors — Wilcox, Danielle Gaumner, Jae Shin and Megan Shields — and Eureka alum, Nikki Powell.

But more so, the Jacks are looking to avenge their 85-52 loss against the Broncos in Kellogg Gym on Jan. 23.
 
"We all have a little chip on our shoulder," Gleason said. "We know it's a big game, we don't want to overthink it. But we still need to play our game and get ready to go."

Tipoff for the final home game of the season is set for 5:30 p.m.