Ila Lane continued re-writing the UCSB women’s basketball record books Thursday night against Long Beach State, pulling in 14 rebounds to bring her career total to 827, the seventh-most in program history. The senior from Moraga added 19 points to lead the Gauchos (15-7, 8-4 Big West), who fell just short of upsetting the conference-leading Beach (16-7, 11-2 Big West) at the Thunderdome.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a slow first five minutes, Callie Cooper came off the bench to spark the Gaucho offense, providing three assists and forcing a pair of turnovers in the first quarter alone. Alexis Whitfield scored five points in the opening frame and kept the momentum rolling into the second.
The sophomore forward scored UCSB’s first bucket in the second, then Alexis Tucker and Ila Lane took over. The two seniors combined for seven points in one minute to turn a four-point deficit into a three-point lead. The offense lit up again in the last minute to stretch the Gaucho lead to five by halftime.
Lane had seven points and six rebounds at the interval, and the senior wasted no time increasing those totals in the second half. Lane scored the first bucket and grabbed the first board out of halftime and, with 4:19 left in the third, recorded the 822nd rebound of her career to put her alone in seventh place. However, that rebound came right as the Beach started a 13-3 run, which put the visitors ahead by the end of the frame.
UCSB kept themselves within touching distance throughout the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to one with just over a minute and a half to play, but barely missed out on another comeback win. The Gauchos had the ball with under a second left, but could not put up a shot to beat the buzzer.
BY THE NUMBERS
– The next Gaucho ahead of Ila Lane on the career rebounds list is Brandy Richardson, who pulled down 836 boards between 2001-2005; after Richardson comes Erin Buescher and her 864 rebounds from 1997-2000
– Alexis Tucker was UCSB’s next highest scorer Thursday, scoring 14 points on only seven shots from the field; she went 2-2 from three-point range
– Alexis Whitfield led all substitutes with seven points off the bench, all of which she scored in the first half
UP NEXT
UCSB will look to bounce back in Northern California on Saturday, as the Gauchos travel to UC Davis. While Santa Barbara won the most recent game between these two teams, the University Credit Union Center is not full of happy memories; the Gauchos have not won in Davis since February of 2015. Saturday’s game tips off at 2 p.m., and will be live on ESPN+, with live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com.
Eric Boose writes about sports for UCSB.
email: sports@newspress.com
