Gauchos drop fifth straight game and lose a chance at first round bye

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Women's Basketball team dropped their fifth straight game, 75-69 on Thursday night. The loss bumps the Gauchos out of contention for a top four spot in The Big West Championships that would have gave them at least a first round bye.

FROM HEAD COACH BONNIE HENRICKSON
"We have morphed back to the team we were in November and December," said Henrickson. "We just aren't the same team we were. We made an answer and took the lead and I told them, they aren't going to go away."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Another slow start plagued the Gauchos early on as UC Santa Barbara scored just eight points in the period on 21 percent shooting. The Gauchos held the Beach to just 13 points and trailed by five after the opening quarter.

In the second quarter the two teams would trade baskets and at the media timeout the Gauchos still trailed by five. Out of the timeout the Gauchos went on a 16-4 run to end the half and take the lead to halftime. They gained their first lead at the 2:45 mark after Alexis Whitfield hit a jump shot. After that, UC Santa Barbara scored on their next four possessions to take a 35-28 lead to the break.

The Gauchos increased their lead to as much 13 in the quarter again by a Whitfield basket. The Gauchos held their lead to the end of the quarter after trading baskets with the Beach. A basket by Long Beach State with under 20 seconds cut the lead to just five.

Santa Barbara clung to their lead for most of the quarter but a three-pointer by Long Beach at the three minute mark put them ahead. From that point forward the Gauchos could not regain the lead and dropped their home finale.

LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS

In her final game in The Thunderdome, Alexis Whitfield dropped a career-high 27 points. She added three assists and four rebounds to her stat line as well.
The gauchos shot over 48 percent from the field, their first time shooting over 40 percent since their Feb. 15 game against UC San Diego.
Alyssa Marin grabbed her 150th career rebound in the game.

UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara hits the road for their last regular season game on Saturday. The Gauchos will travel to UC Riverside to take on the Highlanders at 7 p.m.

(Article courtesy of UCSB)