LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Women's Basketball team suffered their first Big West loss to UC San Diego Thursday night. What started as a close matchup, but it was the Tritons that came out on top as the final buzzer sounded.
FROM HEAD COACH BONNIE HENRICKSON
Thoughts on the game: "The second quarter we were 3-for-17 and at some point we gotta score," said Henrickson. "We were so speed up and you look at it there are turnovers and shot turnovers and we had a lot of turnovers…but our shot selection was horrendous, we weren't getting downhill and weren't on balance. Collectively we just weren't great around the rim."
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons took an early 4-0 lead before Anya Choice took over for the Gauchos. The senior scored the next six points for UC Santa Barbara giving them an early two-point lead. Jessica Grant then hit a three to put the Gauchos up 9-4. Following that the two teams traded baskets before the Tritons went on a 9-3 run and took a 17-12 lead late in the first quarter. A three-point play by Skylar Burke brought the Gauchos within two.
The Tritons opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run and went up 10. The next basket would come at the 2:47 mark when UC Santa Barbara put up their first points of the quarter. With three seconds left on the clock, Jessica Grant grabbed an arrant inbound pass and found Laurel Rockwood open for a layup to cut the lead to six as time expired. The Gauchos went into the break down 29-23.
Coming out of the half Santa Barbara continued to fight for every possession and basket cutting the lead to four with 1:50 left in the third quarter. Unfortunately, The Tritons ended the quarter on a 5-0 run to regain a nine-point lead as the two teams headed to the final quarter.
The Gauchos had their best scoring quarter of the game putting up 17 points in the final frame, but so did UC San Diego. The Gauchos were unable to trim the lead down and get the stops they needed to get back in the game. Alexis Whitfield tried to provide a spark with a couple of three-pointers but it was too little too late as Santa Barbara would fall 64-50.
LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS
- Alexis Whitfield has grabbed double-digit rebounds in two of the past three games.
- Jessica Grant hit multiple three-pointers for the sixth time this season going 3-for-6 from deep.
- Flora Goed tied her season-high in rebounds grabbing seven in the loss.
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will return home on Saturday, Jan. 6 as they host conference rival Cal Poly at 4 p.m. inside The Thunderdome. For those unable to attend in person the game will be streamed through ESPN+ with live stats also available.
