Box Score SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – The second chapter of this season's Blue-Green Rivalry between the UC Santa Barbara women's basketball team (12-15, 7-7 Big West) and Cal Poly (8-17, 5-9 Big West) came down to the wire just like the first meeting between the two, but this time it was the Mustangs who came out victorious with a 56-52 win on Wednesday night at the Mott Athletics Center.
"We just broke down on little quick hits they ran and we weren't focused. Yeah, we got back in it and gave ourselves a chance, but we had some untimely turnovers and we didn't answer how physically they came at us on the ball," said UCSB head coach Bonnie Henrickson after the game.
Despite freshman center Ila Lane securing her 18th double-double of the season and redshirt senior guard Coco Miller putting up a 16-point performance, the Gauchos were outdone by the 26-point, six-rebound effort put forth by Cal Poly's transfer forward Sierra Campisano.
Cal Poly matched its best first quarter of the season with a 22-point showing in the first ten minutes of play, gaining an early 14-point advantage over the Gauchos.
UCSB pulled itself back in the game in the second quarter, led by a 5-of-5 period from Lane under the basket, scoring 10 points on her own to cut the deficit to seven by the half, with Cal Poly leading 30-23.
In the third quarter, the Gauchos got within one possession within the first four minutes, following a layup by Lane under the basket, before Cal Poly pulled away to lead by eight entering the final period.
However, it was the Gauchos that opened on an 8-0 run and tied things up at 45-all off two triples from Coco and Danae Miller and a second-chance jumper from Lane.
The Mustangs scored the next five points, but Santa Barbara roared back to finally take the lead with 2:20 remaining off a 7-0 run, culminating in back-to-back makes from Coco Miller and redshirt senior guard Tal Sahar.
Then, freshman guard Abbey Ellis came off the bench and drained a triple that retrieved the lead for the Mustangs, and that would ultimately stand as the game-winning basket as Cal Poly kept UCSB distanced from its lead.
The Gauchos take on Long Beach State at the Thunderdome on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. The team's three seniors, Coco Miller, Celeste Salazar, and Sahar, will be honored in a ceremony postgame. The game will be streamed on BigWest.TV with Gerry Fall and Louis Reynaud on commentary and live stats will be available on UCSBGauchos.com.
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