SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Facing UC Davis (17-6, 8-2) on Alumni night Saturday afternoon in a battle for first place in the Big West, UCSB (11-11, 6-3) struggled with its shot throughout, setting new season-lows in points, field goals (18) and shooting percentage (.310) in a 62-48 defeat. The loss was Santa Barbara's first at the Thunderdome in conference play, ending a run of four straight wins at home.

Despite a slow start which saw them score just 20 points in the first half, the Gauchos continued to fight, cutting what was a 12-point third quarter lead to as little as three with 2:39 to go in the period. Davis forward Morgan Bertsch had an answer for every UCSB run though, including a stretch in the fourth quarter where she scored on four straight possessions. Bertsch went on to tie a career-high with 27 points on 11-14 shooting to lead all scorers.

"At some point, we needed someone to step up on the defensive end to force tougher catches and make it harder for them to finish," head coach Bonnie Henrickson said. "Their shots weren't hard enough, they were unchallenged, everything was in rhythm. Give them credit."

Leading the Gauchos on offense was Coco Miller with 11 points, while point guards Onome Jemerigbe and Drea Toler scored nine each. Jemerigbe also finished with four steals, tying a season-high, and two assists. Now with 404 career assists, she moves into a tie with Barbara Beainy (1988-92) for the fifth-most in program history.

Unable to rely on the hot outside shooting that has won them a number of games this year, the Gauchos were at their best in a highly competitive third quarter. Trailing 32-20, UCSB went on a 13-4 run led by Toler and Jemerigbe to cut the Aggies' lead to 38-35. The third would prove to be the only quarter that UCSB won, outscoring Davis 17-16 in the period.

Layups from junior Taylor Farris and sophomore Coco Miller to open the fourth brought the lead back to just five at 46-41. However, Bertsch would answer back by scoring on four straight possessions, kickstarting a 16-5 run that helped ice the game.

Despite UCSB and Davis entering the game as the two of the best three-point shooting teams in the conference, both teams would surprisingly finish just 2-16 from deep. This ended the Gauchos' streak of 17 straight games with at least five triples.

Redshirt sophomore Sarah Porter, who came into the game as the Gauchos' leading scorer during conference play, finished 0-8 from the field and 0-5 on threes. It was just the third time all season that she failed to hit a three.

Seeing her first real action since missing eight straight games due to injury, Farris led all players with a season-high ten rebounds to go along with six points. Redshirt junior Drew Edelman added eight points, finishing a perfect 4-4 from the field for the second time this season.

On a day where the Aggies had just two players score over five points, redshirt junior Marly Anderson came up huge with 14 points on 7-10 shooting to help take some of the scoring load off of Bertsch's shoulders.

For the second straight game, UCSB got off to a slow start on the offensive end, scoring just eight points in the first quarter. Unlike their previous outing - a 57-37 win over Cal State Fullerton - the Gauchos were unable to overcome their cold shooting out of the gates. They finished just 7-27 (.259) from the field in the first half and trailed 30-20 at the break.

In celebration of Alumni Night, former Gauchos Jasmine Ware (2012-16), Sweets Underwood (2009-13), Kris Grazzini (1992-96), Barb Beainy (1988-92), Jenna Green (2005-09), and Lindsay Taylor (2000-04) were introduced and honored at halftime.

"There's so much history and support here for our program. We really appreciate them making the effort to get here," Henrickson said.

The Gauchos will now look forward to next week when they will finish off their current three-game homestand against Cal State Northridge (Thursday) before flying out to face Hawai'i (Saturday).