SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Women's Basketball team experienced something for the first time in over eight years on Saturday: a home loss against Cal Poly. The visiting Mustangs drew and converted an and-one inside the final five seconds to take a 51-50 lead, which would go down as the final score.
 
Skylar Burke led the Gauchos in scoring with 11 points on the night, while Zoe Borter was Santa Barbara's leading rebounder, hauling in a career-high nine boards on the night. However, despite Borter's effort, the Gauchos were out-rebounded by the Mustangs, 40-34.
 
FROM HEAD COACH RENEE JIMENEZ
"It's not about the last play, it's not about this or that, we didn't rebound. We don't win when we don't rebound," Jimenez said. "When we out-rebound teams, we win. When Cal Poly out-rebounds teams, they win, so it was a battle of who was going to win the boards. We lost, 40-34, and that was the difference in the game. They had 14 offensive rebounds."
 
"They got 14 extra possessions, so between our 10 turnovers and 14 offensive rebounds, that's 24 extra possessions that they got. It's not about the last play, it's not about this or that, we didn't rebound. We don't win when we don't rebound."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Burke won the opening tip-off and made a layup to get the Gauchos on the board first, but Cal Poly came back with a three-pointer on their first possession as the teams immediately settled into a back-and-forth rhythm. Another Cal Poly make put the Mustangs up, 5-2, in the early going, but the Gauchos surged back and worked their way into a 15-10 lead late in the frame. Alyssa Marin keyed the offense with five points in the frame, three of which came from the free-throw line. The Gauchos were a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe in the opening frame, but they would only make two more trips to the line in the entire game.
 
Cal Poly had stayed in the game with some great shooting in the first quarter, going 5-of-12 (41.7%) from the field in the opening frame. While the Mustangs did cool off in the second, going 5-of-14 (35.7%) in the second quarter, so did the Gauchos, going 5-of-17. Early in the frame though, the Gauchos got themselves on a little run, with back-to-back three-pointers from Marin and Jessica Grant forcing Cal Poly to call a timeout just two and a half minutes into the quarter. The Mustangs worked their way back into the game after that timeout, and the score was tied at 27 at halftime.
 
After the break, the visitors went on a 9-0 run over the first three and a half minutes of the third quarter, but then it was the Gauchos' turn to claw themselves back even. Olivia Bradley kicked it off by tipping in her own rebound for two points, then Borter, Cayla Williams and Grant each drained three-pointers for an 11-3 Santa Barbara run. Cal Poly knocked down a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the quarter, but Burke raced down the court and drew a foul with five seconds left, sinking both free throws to keep the Gauchos within one at the end of the frame, down 41-40.
 
Burke was involved again right at the start of the fourth, making a three-pointer to beat the shot clock buzzer on the Gauchos' first possession of the frame. A minute and a half later, Borter knocked down a jumper to put Santa Barbara up by four, the largest lead either team would hold in the fourth quarter. But again, Cal Poly regained the momentum after a timeout. A couple Mustang three-pointers helped tie the game at 47, but with just over four minutes to play, Grant's third three-ball of the night put the Gauchos back in the lead. However, it would be their last points of the evening. Santa Barbara managed to hold the Mustangs off the board for nearly four minutes, but with the clock ticking under 10 seconds, Cal Poly cracked the defense and earned a trip to the free-throw line, taking a 51-50 lead. The Gauchos were unable to score on their final play.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Zoe Borter's career-high nine rebounds are the continuation of an upward trend for the sophomore; she had her previous career high of seven in each of the Gauchos' last two home games.
• Saturday night saw Alyssa Marin's double-digit scoring streak come to an end at 13 consecutive games; Skylar Burke now owns the Gauchos' longest active double-digit streak at six games.
• Saturday was the second time that Santa Barbara has shot a perfect 100% from the free-throw line this season, though they did so on a season-low seven attempts.

 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos are on the road all of next week, visiting UC Riverside on Thursday and UC Davis on Saturday. They return to the Thunderdome on Jan. 23 to host UC San Diego.