The UCSB women’s basketball team (5-3) will host San Jose State (3-7) at 4 p.m. today at the Thunderdome.
The Gauchos have a perfect 3-0 mark during December. With two more wins over SJSU (today) and UC San Diego (Dec. 30), the Gauchos would complete their first undefeated month since January 2008.
The Gauchos have also gotten out to a perfect 4-0 start at the Thunderdome for the first time since 2002. That year, they finished with a perfect 15-0 mark at the Thunderdome.
San Jose State enters today’s competition having dropped four straight, including two games to Big West teams. The Spartans were beaten by UC Irvine 74-66 last Wednesday and fell to UC San Diego 81-61 in early December. Senior forward Cydni Lewis leads the team in points (13.0), rebounds (7.2), and blocks per game (1.4).
Meanwhile, with 14 points in the 89-80 win over Denver on Dec. 2 Danae Miller became the 28th member of the Gaucho 1,000 point club. She is also seventh all-time at UCSB with 388 assists, currently averaging 3.4 per game this season (7th in Big West). The Carson, Calif., native is third on the team in scoring (9.9 ppg) and second in three-pointers (9).
Junior center Ila Lane has picked up right where she left off from her 2019-20 freshman campaign, leading the Big West in rebounding at 9.9 per game. She enjoyed one of the greatest shooting performances in program history against Denver, scoring a career-best 27 points while making 13-of-14 (92.9%) field goals. The Gauchos’ leading scorer leads the Big West in field goal percentage (56.3%) and is 9th in the conference in points per game (12.1). Her performance against Denver led to the Gauchos’ first Big West Player of the Week award of the season.
Megan Anderson has been one of the Big West’s top shooters this season, shooting a superb 50% from range on 3.8 attempts per game. She put on a brilliant shooting display in a 74-63 win at Pepperdine (5-7 3FG, 20 pts) on Nov. 20, resulting in UCSB’s first 20-point performance of the season and helping the Gauchos out to their first 2-1 start since 2008.
Fellow senior guard Taylor Mole has the highest three-point percentage (57.1%) on the team, having made 8-of-14 attempts from the outside.
The Gauchos have been one of the conference’s best at the foul line, currently ranking second in free throw percentage (74.3%) and makes (110). Alexis Tucker has made 22-of-27 (81.5%), the most on the team, while Anya Choice has gone an extremely efficient 15-for-17 (88.2%).
Michael Jorgenson writes sports stories for UCSB.
email: sports@newspress.com
