Marin collects a milestone while Willams sets a career-high in points as UCSB beats Hawai’i

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Women's Basketball team (8-5, 2-1 Big West) rang in the new year in a big way Thursday night, defeating Hawai'i (6-6, 0-2 Big West) in the Thunderdome. Cayla Williams led the Gauchos with a career-best 14 points, one of five Santa Barbara players to finish in double digits. Jessica Grant and Zoe Borter each had 12, while Skylar Burke and Alyssa Marin added 10 each in the 72-62 victory.

(Camarillo High School-alum Alyssa Marin joins 1,000 point club for UCSB. Entenza Design).

For Marin, one of those 10 points was particularly special, as she tallied the 1,000th point of her career on the night, becoming the 30th Gaucho Women's Basketball player to score 1,000 in Santa Barbara's Blue and Gold. Her 10-point outing also extended her double-digit-scoring streak to 12 games and the Gauchos' win was their fifth consecutive victory over Hawai'i in the Thunderdome.

FROM HEAD COACH RENEE JIMENEZ
"I'm really proud of this group, we out-rebounded Hawai'i," Jimenez said. "We had 13 assists tonight on I don't know, 21 makes, which is something we talked about too. When we out-rebound teams, we win. So, in case you all are wondering what the magic sauce is, it's that because we're limiting good teams to their minimum possessions and we're a good possession team."

"At the end of this game, it didn't even feel like a steal, it felt like we were the better team tonight. It felt like we were better than Hawai'i overall, I thought we played better as a team. I thought we shared the ball better, I thought we defended as a unit."

HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a back-and-forth first quarter as the teams traded baskets early on. Marin nearly got her 1,000th point on the Gauchos' first possession of the game, but her three-pointer rattled out. She would get Santa Barbara's first points of the game just seconds later, grabbing her own rebound and drawing a shooting foul. She knocked down both free throws, the first two of eight makes from the charity stripe for the Camarillo native. She would finally break the 1,000-point plateau a few minutes later, making a mid-range jumper that put Santa Barbara ahead, 8-6. Neither team led by more than two until the final two minutes of the frame, when Marin forced a turnover and found Jessica Grant on the fast break. The sharpshooting Grant drilled her first of four three-pointers to put Santa Barbara up 16-11. After layups from either side, the first quarter ended with the Gauchos up, 18-13.

The Blue and Gold had benefitted from strong rebounding play in the first quarter, a trend which continued as the Gauchos stretched their lead in the second. In the first half, Santa Barbara had as many offensive rebounds as Hawai'i had total boards. Eight of the Gauchos' 18 first-quarter points had come from second chances, and Santa Barbara did not allow the Rainbow Wahine any second-chance points in the second quarter. The Gauchos kept Hawai'i at arms' length throughout the second frame, never allowing the Rainbow Wahine within a single possession. Importantly, Santa Barbara also started to knock down three-pointers in the second. After going 1-for-11 in the first quarter, the Gauchos went 4-for-6 from deep in the second and 9-for-15 over the final three frames.

Williams knocked down her first three-ball of the night during that second quarter, helping Santa Barbara build a 10-point lead by halftime. Burke drained two from deep as well, and Grant knocked down her second three of the night in the frame as well. Marin got a three in her own style late, drawing a foul on her long-range attempt and knocking down all three free throws to give Santa Barbara their 37-27 lead at the break.

It was more of the same in the third quarter as Hawai'i never got within less than eight points of the Gauchos. Williams knocked down two more threes in the quarter's final two minutes, and Santa Barbara held a 53-41 advantage by the end of the frame.

With a comfortable lead coming into the fourth, all the Gauchos had to do was keep matching whatever the Rainbow Wahine could conjure. It was Hawai'i's highest-scoring quarter of the game, as the Wahine tallied 21 points in the frame, but Santa Barbara put up 19 of their own to keep the lead comfortable. Twelve of those points came from the free-throw line, as Hawai'i elected to send The Big West's best free-throw-shooting team to the charity stripe five times in the final minute of the game.

FROM THE STUDENT-ATHLETES
Alyssa Marin on scoring her 1,000th career point: "It was amazing, and honestly, I was just talking to my team and my eyes are red because I was crying. I was so proud of my team for what they did," Marin said. "UC Santa Barbara, it has been like a family to me, so to be able to go out and do that and have my family in the crowd and have you guys in the crowd, it was everything."

Cayla Williams on her offensive performance: "I really enjoyed that," Williams said. "I feel like that's something that we knew I could do but I haven't been able to hit one in a game yet, so it just seemed like — the coaching staff noticed that they sink off on screens — so it seemed like a no-brainer to pop and hopefully hit a couple and I'm really glad that I did in those pivotal moments. I'm really happy that they were able to pass me the ball and I was open."

BY THE NUMBERS
Santa Barbara's last two home games have been their best in terms of rebound margin against Division I opposition this season, as the Gauchos grabbed nine more boards than Hawai'i on Thursday night and 15 more than Pacific in their last home game back in December.
Thursday night also saw the Gauchos make their most blocks against a D-I team this year (4), and commit their third-fewest turnovers (11), including zero in the first quarter.
Cayla Williams not only set a new career high in points with her 14 on Thursday night, she also set a new career best with a three free-throw makes while also matching her career highs for field-goal makes (four), three-pointers made (three) and blocks (two).
With her first-quarter basket, Alyssa Marin became the 30th player in UC Santa Barbara Women's Basketball history to score 1,000 points in her career with the program. The last player before Marin was Ila Lane, who hit the milestone in January of 2023, also at home against Hawai'i (Alexis Tucker scored the 1,000th point of her career in that game as well, though not all were at UC Santa Barbara).

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will have the weekend off before returning to Big West action with a trip to Cal State Bakersfield next Thursday, Jan. 9 at 6:30 p.m. Fans can catch all the action live on ESPN+ or follow along with live stats through ucsbgauchos.com. Santa Barbara returns to the Thunderdome on Saturday, Jan. 11 to play Cal Poly at 4 p.m.

(Article by UCSB Athletics)