PHOENIX, Ariz. – Despite having an eight-point lead at halftime, the UC Santa Barbara women's basketball team suffered a 58-57 defeat to Grand Canyon after Da'jah Daniel's last-second layup won the game for the Lopes on Thursday evening at the GCU Arena.

The Gauchos earned their first lead of the night with 7:20 left in the first quarter thanks to redshirt junior guard Aliceah Hernandez picking up where she left off at the end of the Bakersfield game with a triple from the left wing.

The lead would be short-lived, however, as Grand Canyon fought back to regain a five-point advantage less than four minutes later.

Freshman guard Johnni Gonzalez's second chance layup tied things up at 14 apiece with 1:28 to go until the second quarter, and after Grand Canyon's Jada Moss responded with one of her own, freshman center Ila Lane knotted the game again at 16-all on the next possession.

Santa Barbara would dominate the second quarter, leading by as much as ten points after redshirt senior Tal Sahar's layup in the paint with 3:32 remaining until the half, and again when Hernandez drilled a three two minutes later.

GCU's Daniel put a layup in as time expired to cut UCSB's lead to eight at the end of the second frame.

The Gauchos maintained their lead throughout the third quarter, in which it took nearly four minutes for either team to find the first points of the period.

Lane had a highlight reel play with under four minutes to go, when she collected a rebound from redshirt senior guard Coco Miller's missed jumper, passed it to Hernandez, laid out along the baseline to retrieve Hernandez's miss off the rim, and then got back in position under the basket to finish the play on the second chance.

UCSB would see its lead grow to as much as 11, but it ended the quarter leading by nine, 48-39, after Carla Balague made a layup for GCU off a turnover.

The Lopes chipped away at the Gauchos' lead throughout the fourth quarter, and they regained the lead with 31 seconds left after Tavia Rowell connected on a triple to put GCU up 56-55.

The Gauchos ended up getting the ball back after a tie-up in front of the Grand Canyon bench, and junior point guard Danae Miller pushed it up the court and took it to the basket for the go-ahead score with just 3.5 seconds left.

On the next possession, GCU's Laura Piera inbounded the ball into the chest of Daniel under the basket, and she got through the UCSB defense and laid the ball in for what was the game-winner with 0.3 seconds left.

Three players finished with double-digit points for UCSB, including Coco Miller with 18, Lane with 14 points and 18 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the year, and Sahar with 13 points.

The Gauchos play at Arizona on Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m PST. Check the UCSB women's basketball schedule page for more information on live stream and live radio broadcast availability.

Season tickets for the 2019-20 season are still available. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here, visiting the ticket office, or by calling (805) 893-UCSB.

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