UCSB Women’s Basketball Outlasts University of San Francisco in Season Opener

Alyssa Marin tossed a cross-court pass to Alexis Whitfield, who calmy drained a corner three-pointer to punctuate an uneven, but ultimately comfortable victory for the UCSB women’s basketball team.

The Gauchos led by as much as 22 points in the first half but had to overcome a rough third quarter to secure an 87-75 victory over University of San Francico on Tuesday night at the Thunderdome.

“I thought the first half offensively was as well as we have executed in a long time,” said UCSB women’s basketball coach Bonnie Hendrickson. “We got primary looks. We got good looks. We got clean looks. Then they did what they had to do, ‘we’re not going to let you run any of that.’ I don’t think we ran a designed play in the second half because of them trapping.”

Trailing 53-34 at halftime, University of San Francisco deployed full-court pressure and aggressive trapping. The philosophical shift from standard man-to-man principles, with zone sprinkled in, to frenetic double teams shifted the entire tenor of the game.

The UCSB offense that converted 21-of-36 shots from the field in the first half grinded to a stand still as turnovers picked up and shots became hurried. A game that was on course to be a blowout all of a sudden offered a heavy dose of adversity.

“A really good first game out of the gate for us. You don’t learn anything by beating people by 50,” Hendrickson said. “It’s fun, a lot less stressful, but you don’t learn a lot.”

The UCSB lead shrunk to 56-50 after a layup by Debora Dos Santos with 4:56 remaining in the third quarter capped off a 16-6 run by the visiting Dons to open the period. The two teams went back and forth for the remainder of the third quarter and UCSB entered the fourth quarter clinging to a 66-60 lead.

“I think our biggest thing of course was we were really spread up and that’s one of the things that we kind of emphasize in practice a lot. We practice with the boys and of course they’re trying to speed us up and jumping at every ball,” Marin said. “I think once we really calmed down and like coach was saying we communicated, we flashed to the ball and after that everything worked a lot better.”

Slowly but sure the Gauchos regained control of the game and Jessica Grant’s hot shooting was a major factor. The Sophomore from San Marcos California knocked down three three-pointer in the fourth quarter, the first of which extended the UCSB lead to 71-64 with 6:48 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Grant’s second three-pointer put UCSB ahead 76-69 with 5:30 remaining and her third three-pointer increased the UCSB lead to 82-73 with 3:37 remaining.

A cross over into a mid-range jumper by Marin gave the Gauchos an 84-75 lead with 2:50 remaining and the UCSB defense held the Dons scoreless for the remainder of the game.

Nine Gauchos scored in the game, including 14 points and seven assists from Marin. Skylar Burke and grant chipped in 12 points apiece.

UCSB will travel to Idaho State for its next game on Wednesday, November 15 beginning at 6p.m. The next home game is Sunday, November, 19  with tip off at 2 p.m.