UCSB women’s basketball (19-10, 12-7 Big West) certainly didn’t imagine their home schedule ending like it did Thursday night, as the Gauchos fell, 80-59, against UC Davis (15-13, 11-7 Big West). Alexis Tucker scored 13 points to lead the team, and Callie Cooper added 11 more off the bench. Ila Lane moved into a tie for fourth place on the program’s all-time rebounds leaderboard.
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC Davis got off to a faster start, building a 12-4 lead midway through the first quarter, but with two minutes left in the frame, the Gauchos started to put together some offense. A Skylar Burke three-pointer cut the Aggie lead to five, and it looked like UCSB was getting themselves back into the game. And then UC Davis beat the first quarter buzzer on a long range, three-point heave that banked in to make it an eight-point game instead. Despite the Gauchos’ best efforts, the scoreline never got that close again.
Despite trailing the entire second and third quarters, UCSB put the Aggies under pressure to end the third, forcing turnovers and bad shots on the defensive end and getting some shots to fall on the offense, putting together an 11-2 run in the final few minutes of the quarter. With 32 seconds to go until the fourth, the Gauchos were within 13 points and had all the momentum. But again, a Davis three-pointer handed that momentum back to the Aggies. They carried that momentum through the fourth quarter and to the final buzzer.
BY THE NUMBERS
– After Thursday’s game, Ila Lane now has 869 career rebounds, which is tied for the fourth-most in UCSB women’s basketball history.
– Callie Cooper’s 11 points Thursday night make a nice, round 150 on her young career; this is only the third time Cooper has scored in double-digits, with all three coming in the last month.
– With her seven makes from the charity stripe on Thursday, Alexis Tucker has now made over 100 free throws this season; she is shooting .829 (102-123) from the line and has only missed one of her last 25.
UP NEXT
The regular-season finale is up next for UCSB, and with it a trip to the islands. The Gauchos will play Hawai’i today, in a game with seeding implications for the Big West Championship. UCSB currently holds the third seed, and would clinch it with a win in Honolulu. With a loss, they could fall as far as the fifth seed. Tip off from Hawaii is set for 9 p.m. PST on Saturday.
Eric Boose is assistant director of athletic communications at UCSB.
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