CLAREMONT, Calif. — The No. 19 UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team (13-7) earned a pair of comfortable victories in their final tune-up before beginning Big West play on Friday, taking down Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (4-7) and Biola (1-12), 13-9 and 14-7 respectively. Bella Mady scored six goals on the day, with a four-goal haul against the Eagles. In the early game against the Athenas, Aidan Flynn led the scoring with four goals of her own.
 
No. 19 GAUCHOS 13, CLAREMONT-MUDD-SCRIPPS 9
Santa Barbara took control early in their first game of the day and kept it until the end. Four Gauchos found the back of the net in the first quarter, while Ava Donleavy shut out the Athenas at the other end. Jojo Scheer got things going, then Isabel Valaika and Molly Souza scored within a minute of each other to make it 3-0. Christina Mullane converted a five-meter penalty to make it 4-0 at the end of the frame.
 
CMS got two goals back in the second, but Flynn got the last laugh before halftime, sending the Gauchos into the break with a 5-2 lead. Flynn then powered a third-quarter barrage, scoring a hat-trick in the period. Mady added two in the quarter and Scheer another to give Santa Barbara an 11-5 lead heading into the final frame. Morgan Hoffman and Loretta Hovey each scored in the fourth to make sure an Athenas rally was too little, too late.
 
No. 19 GAUCHOS 14, BIOLA 7
Less than a week after fending off the Eagles in a 31-goal game in Orange County, Santa Barbara hit double digits against Biola again, and this time they kept the squad from La Mirada to just single digits. The first quarter essentially decided the game, with the Gauchos scoring seven times. Mady dented the twine twice, as did Juju Amaral. Annie Kuester, Mullane and Souza each added single tallies in the frame. Mady finished her hat trick before halftime, scoring the Gauchos' only goal of the second quarter, but that would have been enough, as the score was 8-4 Santa Barbara at halftime.
 
Amaral finished her hat trick just over 30 seconds into the third quarter, and Kayla Matthies put Santa Barbara into double digits with a five-meter penalty goal four minutes later. Heading into the fourth, the Gauchos had a 10-6 lead, and they put the game beyond all doubt in the final frame. Mady fired home her fourth goal of the game, then Scheer scored twice in 20 seconds to put Santa Barbara up 13-6 less than two minutes into the frame. Lainey Weintre iced the cake with goal number 14.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos now open Big West play, heading to Long Beach on Saturday, March 1 to face No. 7 Long Beach State. The teams will hit the water at 12 noon from the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center, and fans can follow along with live stats at ucsbgauchos.com/WWPLiveStats.