BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Women's Basketball team's dynamic duo was at it again on Thursday night, as Alyssa Marin and Skylar Burke accounted for more than half the Gauchos' (9-5, 3-1 Big West) scoring in a 61-57 win over Cal State Bakersfield (0-15, 0-5 Big West). Marin led all scorers with 20 points, while Burke had a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double, her first of the season. The two guards' play, as well as key contributions from Cayla Williams and Olivia Bradley off the bench, gave Santa Barbara enough of a lead that they were able to hold off a late Roadrunner rally for the win. The Gauchos' characteristically strong free-throw shooting proved key down the stretch too.
 
FROM HEAD COACH RENEE JIMENEZ
"I'm proud of this group for finding a way to grind it out," Jimenez said. "We knew coming off a game like Hawai'i there could be some let down and so we really tried hard to address that this week in practice. I thought for about 30 minutes we did a really good job of defending and rebounding with great intention. When we can put 40 minutes together, we are going to be a tough team to beat."

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos never trailed in Thursday's game, just their second time doing so all season, building a 15-10 lead in the first quarter thanks in large part to Burke. She scored the first two baskets of the game and drained a three-pointer later in the quarter to rack up seven points in the first 10 minutes of action. Marin was involved too, scoring the Gauchos' last four points of the quarter.
 
Santa Barbara opened the second quarter with back-to-back three-pointers from Jessica Grant and Olivia Bradley, going up by 11 points. Just before the five-minute mark, Burke popped up with another make to get the Gauchos back up by double digits, and she would play a key role in the buzzer-beater that sent Santa Barbara to the locker room up by 11. With less than 10 seconds left in the half, Burke pulled in a defensive rebound, ran the length of the court and dished off to Zoe Borter in the corner, who drilled the three-pointer as the horn went. Thanks to that play, the Gauchos went into halftime up 28-17.
 
After the break, the teams traded baskets in the first minute but then the Gauchos went cold, with only a Marin three-pointer to show for four and a half minutes of basketball. Thankfully, the Santa Barbara defense kept Bakersfield far enough away, only allowing the Roadrunners to get within six points before Bradley's three-pointer broke the drought. Including that make, the Gauchos out-scored Bakersfield, 9-4, in the final five minutes of the frame, heading to the fourth quarter of the defensive battle with a 42-31 advantage.
 
To begin the fourth, the Gauchos extended their lead, going up by as many as 19 points after a Burke layup made it 53-34 with just over five minutes to play. However, Bakersfield clawed their way back into the game as Santa Barbara once again went cold from the floor. After Burke's layup, the Gauchos attempted just five more field goals and made just one, a jumper by Marin, before the end of the game. By contrast, the Roadrunners made seven of their final nine field goal attempts after Burke's layup. Between their large cushion and good free-throw shooting — the Gauchos went 16-of-20 from the charity stripe on the night — Santa Barbara was able to hold on for the win.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Thursday night was the third time in the last four games that the Gauchos have held their opponents under 60 points, with Santa Barbara winning two of the three contests. They are 3-2 on the season when allowing fewer than 60 points.
• Thursday night was also the third time in the last four games that the Gauchos have out-rebounded their opponents, with Santa Barbara winning all three of those occasions.
• With 11 rebounds as part of her double-double on Thursday night, Skylar Burke is now the Gauchos' leading rebounder this season, despite being the third-shortest player on the team at just 5-foot-8.
• Alyssa Marin's 20-point output, her fourth 20-point game of the season, on Thursday extended her streak of double-digit scoring nights to 13 games.

 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos return home for their next game, hosting Cal Poly at the Thunderdome on Saturday, with tipoff set for 4 p.m. For fans who are not able to make it to the game, all the action will be live on ESPN+ with live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com/WBBLiveStats.