UCSB couldn’t recover from a slow start, suffering its fourth-straight women’s basketball defeat, 61-49, at Big West Conference leader Long Beach State on Friday.
The 49ers (10-1, 9-0 Big West) responded to a later comeback by the Gauchos (2-10, 2-6) by out-scoring them 12-3 in the final 5½ minutes.
Long Beach dominated the inside game, out-rebounding the Gauchos 46-33 and out-scoring them in the paint 30-12.
The 49ers also scored 18 points off UCSB’s 16 turnovers while making nine steals in the game. Jasmine Hardy had three of the thefts and finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
UCSB made just 1-of-10 shots — a three-pointer by Taylor Mole — during the first quarter. Mole led the Gauchos with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
Long Beach ended the period on a 10-0 run to take an 18-6 lead.
The Gauchos went on a 10-0 run of their own in the second quarter, getting back-to-back threes by Danae Miller and Alyssa Marin to draw to within 23-18. Lauren Lee’s put-back just before halftime trimmed Long Beach’s lead to 26-21.
Marin’s free throw got UCSB as close as 34-33 during the third period. She finished with 11 points, making 3-of-7 threes.
The Gauchos trailed by nine early in the fourth quarter before back-to-back threes by Marin and Doris Jones got them to within 49-46 with 5:48 to go. Jones finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Their comeback ended there, however.
The two teams will play again today at 4 p.m. at the Pyramid.
BASEBALL
WESTMONT 18, SAINT KATHERINE 1
Andrew Bayard hit a pair of home runs and John Jensen belted his second in as many days as Westmont College routed the Firebirds at Russ Carr Field.
Bayard belted a solo homer in the fourth and a three-run shot the next inning to touch off a 12-run outburst. The senior captain has gone 4-for-7 in Westmont’s first two games.
Jensen, who drove in the game’s first run with a double in the third inning, also hit a three-run homer in the fifth. The former Santa Barbara High and Santa Barbara City College star, who transferred to Westmont this season from UC Irvine, is now 5-for-7 in his first two games with the Warriors.
Ryan Desaegher went 4-for-4 and scored four runs, Robbie Haw had three hits, Daniel Netz drove in three runs with a single and double, and Alex Stufft scored three times while going 2-for-5.
Chad Stoner, a sophomore transfer from Clark Community College, pitched a three-hitter over seven innings, allowing one run and one walk with five strikeouts. Cameron Phelps pitched two hitless innings of relief.
The Warriors (1-1) will play a double-header today against No. 19 Benedictine College of Arizona starting at 11 a.m.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
FRESNO PACIFIC 1, WESTMONT 0
The Sunbirds scored in the first half-minute of the match and held on to spoil the Warriors’ season opener in Fresno.
Madilyn Hernandez played the ball up to Tori De Leon, who connected with Alexis Macias inside the box. Macias slotted her shot just inside the post on the lower shelf past the diving effort of Westmont goalkeeper Gabi Haw.
Haw had to leave the match with an injury during the 10th minute, but backup Kailey Meyer shut out the Sunbirds (3-0) the rest of the match. She registered two saves.
The Warriors out-shot Fresno 13-8, with a 5-4 edge on goal.
Westmont will return to action on Wednesday with a 2 p.m. match at Point Loma.
TENNIS
BIOLA AT WESTMONT
Friday’s men’s and women’s tennis matches between Biola and Westmont were postponed. A makeup date has not yet been announced.
WATER POLO
VAQUERO TRANSFERRING
Annie Ackert, a former Santa Ynez High star, is transferring from Santa Barbara City College to Hawaii to continue her water polo career.
She was the Vaqueros’ second-leading scorer in 2019 with 78 goals and third in steals with 41, leading the team to a 30-5 record and No. 3 ranking in the state. won their sixth straight Western State Conference title before falling 12-7 in the Regional Finals to No. 2 Riverside.
Ackert, a 5-foot-7 attacker, plans to major in Health Sciences.
“One of the main reasons was that the major I wanted to pursue takes six years to complete at most California schools, so I knew that going out of state would be a good option for me,” she said. “Hawaii was my top choice because of their array of Health Science classes and their competitive women’s water polo team.
“Also, I really enjoy the atmosphere of Hawaii.”
Hawaii has compiled a 50-13 record in the last three years. They were ranked No. 3 in the nation and won their first 11 games in 2020, then lost to No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 UCLA, before the season was cut short by COVID-19.
“Although I only got to spend three semesters at SBCC, I learned the most that I ever have both in the classroom and in the pool,” Ackert said. “Before I played for coach Chuckie (Roth), I was not ready to play at a school like the University of Hawaii. However, after only one season of playing under coach Chuckie, I learned so much about the game and team dynamic.
“My teammates became some of my best friends and I am very sad that I did not get to compete with them for another season due to the pandemic.”
Ackert will have three seasons of eligibility at Hawaii.
“Annie made a huge impact in a very short amount of time,” Roth said. “As a freshman, she stepped up big. She was first-team all-conference, first-team all-So Cal and first-team All-American.
“We were anticipating a break-out swim season when COVID hit. Annie would have been a multiple All-America swimmer and would have done great things for our program. This fall when we were sidelined, I called Hawaii coach Maureen Cole and Annie was all set up to attend this upcoming fall. However since we were shut down and they were practicing, it made sense for her to transfer early.”
email: mpatton@newspress.com
