ARCATA, Calif. – The Humboldt State women's basketball team rallied late but was unable to overcome a slow shooting first half as they fell to No. 4 UC San Diego 72-61 Saturday night inside Lumberjack Arena.

"In the first half I thought our defense was solid, we just didn't get into any type of flow offensively," said Head Coach Michelle Bento-Jackson. "In the second half we did get into a flow, and I think the girls battled hard and we put a little pressure on San Diego by cutting their lead. The two things that really hurt us were offensive rebounds and allowing wide open threes that we weren't getting out on."

HSU struggled to find its rhythm early as it shot 36 percent from the field while only converting 2-of-10 from long range. Tyra Turner kept the Jacks battling as she finished the half with a team-high 11 points and four rebounds. The North Coast squad went scoreless in the final two and half minutes of the second period as they went to the locker room trailing 29-22.

Back-to-back buckets by Jovanah Arrington to begin the fourth quarter sparked a 12-2 Green and Gold run to trim the deficit to just four points. However, the Tritons continued to crash the offensive boards and finished with 20 second-chance points compared to HSU's four.

The home team continued to battle on the glass, but UC San Diego used its size and athleticism as the Tritons outrebounded the home team 47-24.

Alexia Thrower finished as the Jacks' top scorer with 16 points and recorded a game-high four steals. Tyra Turner also contributed offensively as she finished with 15 points as well as a team-best eight rebounds. San Diego forward Mikayla Williams ended her night with a double-double finishing with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

The Jacks will look to clean things up next Saturday, Feb. 2 as they take on conference rival Chico State at 5:30 p.m. inside Art Acker Gymnasium.

"As always we need to have a good week of preparation for Chico," said Bento-Jackson. "We know it's going to be a tough environment at their place, and we just got to learn from this game, fix some things, and get better before next Saturday."