SBCC shot 5-for-7 from three-point range and outscored Hancock 21-10 in the second quarter en route to a 55-47 women’s basketball victory in Santa Maria.
The Vaqueros (13-8, 1-3 WSC North) snapped a four-game losing streak.
Aaliyah Pauling scored 13 points in the second period and had all 21 of her points in the first half. She sank 8-17 from the field and 5-6 in three-pointers while pulling down eight rebounds.
Jennae Mayberry added 10 points and four steals and Lauren Noggle had nine rebounds.
Santa Barbara went 8-for-16 in three-pointers while the Bulldogs (9-10, 1-3) made just 2-16.
“We played a good 40 minutes of basketball tonight,” said coach Sandrine Krul. “That was the theme of the week. And it was nice to see other players step up their scoring in the second half because they were triple-teaming Aaliyah.”
MEN’S BASKETBALL
HANCOCK 88, SBCC 53
The Bulldogs shot 71.4 percent in the first half to take a 61-24 lead and never looked back.
Hancock (18-4, 3-1 WSC North) made 7-of-11 three-pointers in the first 20 minutes before cooling off in the second half (2-for-13).
Joseph Holden scored a career-high 22 points to lead SBCC (3-18, 0-4) while Zeke McMurtry recorded his fifth-straight double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
IRVINE VALLEY 3, SBCC 1
Calvin Sanborn’s 18 kills and eight digs weren’t enough as the Vaqueros dropped their season opener at the Sports Pavilion, 25-19, 23-25, 25-16, 28-26.
The fourth set featured 18 ties and three lead changes.
Trent Lingruen added 11 kills for SBCC while Blake Lockhart had eight kills, seven digs and five blocks. Sanbord’s older brother, Scott, led in digs with 16.
“I thought it was a good match on both sides,” said SBCC coach Jon Newton. “It’s the first match of the year and we’re still trying to figure things out with a few new guys in our starting lineup and them getting used to the speed of play.
“Irvine is going to be a playoff team and it was nice to see us compete with them.”
CHAVERS WINS NATIONAL HONORS
UCSB senior Corey Chavers has been named as the Sports Imports/American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Week as well as the National Outside Attacker of the Week by Off the Block.
Off the Block also tabbed the Gauchos’ Hayden Boehle as its National Libero of the Week.
Chavers had 19 kills and hit .441 with seven digs and four blocks in a five-set win over then-No. 9 Lewis on Friday. Three of his blocks came down the stretch in the fifth set. He followed that up on Saturday with 20 kills and just one error on 40 attempts (.475) against No. 5 Loyola-Chicago.
Boehle had a match-high 10 digs against Lewis and 12 in a four-set win over Loyola-Chicago.
The Gauchos (7-3), ranked No. 9 in this week’s AVCA poll, will take a four-match winning streak in Friday’s match against No. 3 BYU, which will be played at Robertson Gym beginning at 7 p.m. The two teams will also play at the same time and location on Saturday.
BASEBALL
GAUCHOS PICKED TO FINISH 5TH
UCSB, which returns the bulk of the roster that finished 10-14 in last year’s Big West Conference baseball race, was picked to finish fifth out of the league’s nine teams in a vote of the coaches released on Wednesday.
The Gauchos received 49 points in the tabulation, finishing behind Cal State Fullerton (70 points, three first-place votes), UC Irvine (67, 4), Long Beach State (62, 1), and Cal Poly (60, 1).
Following the Gauchos in the vote were Hawai’i (32), Cal State Northridge (29), UC Davis (19), and UC Riverside (17).
UCSB, which finished last season with an overall record of 27-28-1, is led by returning All-Big West players Tommy Jew and Thomas Rowan.
Jew, a junior center fielder, received first-team honors last season after batting .312 with five home runs and 41 runs batted in. Rowan, a senior catcher from Santa Ynez, received honorable mention after also hitting .312 with four homers, a team-high 12 doubles, and 20 RBI.
Among the other returning players are sophomore shortstop Andrew Martinez, who was selected by the Miami Marlins in the 33rd round of last June’s MLB Draft, and the Gauchos’ starting pitching rotation of Chris Lincoln, Jack Dashwood, and Ben Brecht.
UCSB opens the season at home on Friday, Feb. 15 with the start of a weekend series against Loyola Marymount.
