HONOLULU, Hawaii – She was made to wait until the end of the regular season, but junior point guard Danae Miller finally got her game-winner as the UC Santa Barbara women's basketball team defeated Hawai'i 57-56 at the Stan Sheriff Center on Wednesday night.

Freshman center Ila Lane led all players with 20 points on the night on 10-of-14 shooting, though the NCAA's top rebounder was held to just five boards. Redshirt senior guard Coco Miller had 15, including two three-pointers, and fellow redshirt senior guard Tal Sahar dropped 11 points on four makes.

The Gauchos found the first six points of the affair on a trio of two-point plays from Coco Miller, Lauren Lee, and Danae Miller, but Hawai'i's Savannah Reier and Lauren Rewers went back-to-back from beyond the arc to tie the game at 6-6 early on.

That would set the tone of the game as both squads tried to find their footing throughout the first half. The first quarter ended 14-13 to UCSB, and the second half finished with the score tied at 26-all after Julissa Tago buried a triple right before the buzzer for the Rainbow Wahine.

Santa Barbara got its break after the halfway point in the third period, answering a Jadynn Alexander trey that pulled Hawai'I within one with an 11-4 run to close out the quarter, powered by a pair of Lane layups and eight points from Coco Miller.

The Rainbow Wahine clawed their way back throughout the fourth, erasing what was at one point a ten-point deficit with a 10-2 run culminating in two Julissa Tago free throws giving the hosts what was their second lead of the night.

With just over nine seconds left, the Rainbow Wahine fouled the Gauchos twice to drop the clock to 4.1 seconds, setting up a game-deciding situation for UCSB.

Freshman guard Johnni Gonzalez triggered the ball in and it ultimately got to Danae Miller, from which she dribbled to the middle of the baseline on the right side and delivered a clutch shot that won the game for the Gauchos, just barely beating the buzzer by releasing it with 0.2 seconds left.

The Carson native has regularly made big shots for the Gauchos late in games this season, but several times what would have stood as a game-winner was erased by a make from the opposition, most notably at Grand Canyon and Cal Baptist.

UCSB moves onto the Big West Tournament next week, with the opening rounds taking place at Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid on Tuesday and Wednesday. The semifinal and final rounds will be held at the Honda Center in Anaheim later in the week on Friday and Saturday.

With a 9-7 record, UCSB will play no earlier than Wednesday. The Gauchos finish with the second seed if both Hawai'i and Cal State Fullerton lose on Saturday, and could potentially end up with that ranking even if Hawai'i win, depending on the final conference standings.

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