UCSB loses two-point game to UC Davis in women’s basketball
UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara women's basketball team suffered its second consecutive loss as it fell to the UC Davis Aggies 67-65 on Friday afternoon at the Thunderdome.
Four players for UC Davis (4-0, 3-0 Big West) and UCSB (2-8, 2-4 Big West) ended with double-digit point tallies. The Aggies were led by Cierra Hall with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting and a 5-of-5 showing at the free throw line. Senior point guard Danae Miller's 15 points were the most for the hosts, and she tacked on five assists and six fouls drawn.
The Gauchos got going early, scoring the first two buckets of the contest through freshman guard Anya Choice and redshirt senior guard Doris Jones and increasing their lead before exploding on a 9-2 run in the final three minutes of the opening quarter to end with a 22-12 advantage.
UC Davis, the winner of the Big West regular season crown each of the last four seasons, roared back in the second quarter despite a 6-2 open to the frame by the Gauchos.
After redshirt junior Bri Anugwom made a layup with 7:21 to go in the second quarter, the Aggies scored the next 11 points over the next four minutes, five of which came from Evanne Turner and four from the hands of Cierra Hall.
Miller managed to get to the line after drawing a foul to get two back on the board for the Gauchos to lead 30-25 with just over three minutes left in the half. Sage Stobbart scored next for the visitors on a turnaround jumper, then junior guard/forward Taylor Mole replied with a fast break layup, but the Aggies' Turner and Hall scored the final points of the half to head into the locker room down by just one, 32-31.
The game stayed close until the under-five media timeout, after which the Gauchos built on a pair of free throws and a pull-up jumper from Mole on the other side of the break with another two free throws from Miller and an Anugwom layup to lead 45-38 with 4:07 left.
However, the rest of the quarter was virtually all Davis as Sage Stobbart scored on two layups and a triple in succession to tie things up at 45-all. Anugwom looked to get the Gauchos their lead back with a pair of made free throws, but Davis' Evanne Turner responded with a layup to tie things back up at 47-47 and set the stage for a furious finish in the fourth.
Throughout the final quarter, the game remained a one-possession contest as both teams took turns with the lead. Ultimately, it was Hall who took over the game for the Aggies with a second-chance jumper that made it 58-55 to Davis with just under three minutes to go, and a reply to the Choice layup that followed that shot: a bucket and a foul that resulted in a three-point play to get UC Davis ahead 61-57 with 2:19 remaining.
Two possessions later, the Gauchos got some new life by capitalizing off a turnover via a Mole jumper. However, it was quickly answered to by Mackenzie Trpcic with a layup in the paint and the hosts couldn't find a way back after that.
UCSB closes out its series with UC Davis tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and live stats will be available on UCSBGauchos.com.
Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics
