Box Score
TUCSON, Ariz. – The UC Santa Barbara women's basketball team finished up its three-game road trip with a 61-42 defeat at 18th-ranked Arizona in front of a crowd of nearly 5,000 fans at the McKale Center on Saturday afternoon.
Redshirt junior Aliceah Hernandez, freshman point guard Johnni Gonzalez, and redshirt senior guard Coco Miller each hit triples early on that brought the Gauchos to within one with Arizona leading 10-9 with 4:36 left in the first quarter.
After an Aari McDonald jumper extended the lead to 12-9, freshman center Ila Lane responded with a layup to bring the Gauchos back within one, but Semaj Smith had the final make of the first quarter as Arizona led 14-11 after the first ten minutes.
UCSB took its first lead of the afternoon when redshirt senior guard Tal Sahar capped off a 7-0 run by dropping a three-pointer from the left wing after some quick passing around the perimeter, bringing the entire Gaucho bench to their feet after Arizona called timeout.
Following the timeout, the Wildcats regained the lead through a McDonald triple, just her ninth of the season, but Miller answered right back with one of her own to take the lead right back.
Two free throws from Miller brought the lead up to four, but then Arizona went on a 10-0 run to finish off the second quarter with a six-point advantage at 29-23.
The third quarter was all Arizona, as the Wildcats forced turnovers in the backcourt and gave little breathing room for the Gauchos as they pulled away to a 46-32 lead, outscoring UCSB 17-9 over the ten minute frame.
UCSB cut into the lead at its largest point, when the Gauchos were down 15 with 4:07 left in the quarter. A 7-2 run, again ending with a Sahar triple, cut the lead down to 10 before the Wildcats extended it to 14.
Despite an early trey from Sahar in the fourth quarter and a free throw from Lane that brought the deficit back down to 10, Arizona put together enough in the final period to grow its lead to 19 by the end of the game, winning 61-42 to stay undefeated on the season.
UCSB held Arizona to its second-lowest points total of the season and to its second-worst field goal percentage of the year at 43.1%.
"Defensively, we battled. I thought we were good, considering what their scorers can do," said UCSB head coach Bonnie Henrickson.
Lane finished with her second double-double in a row and seventh of the season with a team-high 13 points and 14 rebounds. Sahar ended with nine points on three threes, and Coco Miller followed closely behind with eight points.
Gonzalez played 36 minutes after starting in place of injured junior point guard Danae Miller, racking up five points and six assists, tying her season and career-high in the latter category.
"She did a great job. She'll be able to go back and look at certain things, what happened when she got fatigued, and then what she did well."
The Gauchos take on Ottawa University of Arizona on Monday, Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. at the Thunderdome. 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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