UCSB women’s basketball (16-7, 9-4 Big West) exorcized their Davis demons Saturday afternoon, romping to their first win over UC Davis (11-12, 7-6 Big West) at the University Credit Union Center since 2015, 77-64. Callie Cooper scored a career-high 14 points and Alexis Tucker recorded a double-double in the win, with Ila Lane adding 14 of her own and Alexis Whitfield scoring 12.
Saturday’s win was the 100th at UCSB for both Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson and Assistant Coach Nate Fripp. With the victory, Henrickson becomes only the third head coach in program history to lead the Gauchos triple-digit wins in their career, joining Bobbi Bonace and Mark French.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Alexis Tucker scored the first basket of the game, but it was Taylor Mole who really kick-started the Gaucho offense a few minutes later, hitting a corner three to end an 8-0 Aggie run and spark a 9-0 run for UCSB in return, giving them a lead they would never relinquish. The Gauchos were up three after the first quarter and opened the game up in the second, out-scoring the Aggies by double digits in the second frame.
Alexis Whitfield put up 10 of her team’s 22 second-quarter points herself and finished the half with 12 points. Seconds before halftime, Alyssa Marin stretched the Gaucho advantage to 13 with a three-pointer that just barely beat the shot clock buzzer.
UCSB essentially put the game out of reach in the third quarter, scoring 30 points in the period, including a 20-4 scoring run. The Gauchos led by as many as 31, and despite Davis scoring 20 of their own, UCSB led by 23 at the beginning of the fourth. The Gauchos could have won without scoring a single point in the final frame but added 10 more points, mostly from the free-throw line, to reach their highest score in conference play this season
BY THE NUMBERS
– Remarkably, Callie Cooper managed to put up her career-high 14 points and foul out of the game. She is the only player to lead UCSB in scoring and foul out of the game this season
– For the second straight game, Alexis Whitfield led all bench players in scoring, racking up 12 points, all in the first half
– Ila Lane knocked down a season-best eight of nine free throws Saturday night, the most makes (and attempts) from the charity stripe in the game
UP NEXT
The road trip continues on Wednesday as UCSB will look to carry momentum from Saturday into yet another tough place to play — UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center. The Gauchos and Anteaters will tip off at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The game will be live on ESPN+ and live stats will be available through ucsbgauchos.com.
Eric Boose writes about sports for UCSB.
email: sports@newspress.com
