FULLERTON, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Women's Basketball team dropped their first game since Jan. 6, falling 80-67 to Cal State Fullerton Saturday night. The Gauchos pulled within three with three minutes left in the game, but could not complete the comeback.

FROM HEAD COACH BONNIE HENRICKSON
"Defensively we didn't keep people in front of us, we didn't rotate and they just got little dump downs to Ashlee Lewis," said Henrickson. "Now I will say we have been in that position before against a couple of teams and never fought back, today we fought back. I will take that away as a positive."

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos jumped out to an early eight-point lead in the first quarter and looked to be in control of the game early on. Cal State Fullerton quickly changed the tune of the game after going on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 14 a side. After a few ties and lead changes, it would be the Titans that came out on top after the opening frame.

UC Santa Barbara regained the lead early on in the second quarter after Alyssa Marin hit a three-pointer. She then went to the charity stripe on the next Gaucho possession and hit both her shots. A back-and-forth battle ensued between the two teams, but Fullerton took over halfway through the period and ended the half on a 13-4 run to take a nine-point lead to the break.

A quick spurt by the Gauchos out of halftime brought some life and energy back on their side, but again Fullerton quickly swung the momentum back in their favor building their lead to 18 with an 11-0 run. The Gauchos slowly chipped away at the lead in the remainder of the third quarter, getting some big shots from Alexis Whitfield and Skylar Burke. The Gauchos were able to cut the lead to seven by the end of the frame.

The Titans built their lead back up to double-digits early on in the final quarter and just as it looked like the Gauchos were out of it, they quickly worked their way back into the game, cutting the Titan lead to just three points. A three-pointer by Zoe Borter put momentum back on the Gaucho side. Unfortunately, that is as close as they would get and Cal State Fullerton hung on to defeat the Gauchos.

LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS

• For the second straight game, Skylar Burke grabbed 13 rebounds. She fell one point shy of her second double-double in as many games.
• Alyssa Marin scored a game-high 22 points, her third time scoring over 20 points this season. She was nearly perfect from the free-throw line going 8-for-9.
• Laurel Rockwood was all over the offensive boards grabbing four offensive rebounds and finishing with six total boards in the contest.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will welcome the Rainbow Wahine to The Thunderdome on Thursday, Jan. 25. The 2023 Big West Championship Game rematch will tipoff at 7 p.m. For those unable to attend in person the game will be streamed through ESPN+ with live stats also available.