Junior forward Ila Lane dropped a career-high 27 points, senior guard Danae Miller scored her 1,000th career point, and the UC Santa Barbara women’s basketball team notched its third win of the season after an impressive 89-80 victory against Denver University Thursday night at the Thunderdome.
With the victory, the Gauchos improve to 3-3 on the season and snap a two-game losing streak while Denver falls to 2-5.
“It was good to get this win, especially after a tough weekend,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said.
As a team, the Gauchos had their most efficient night of the season on offense, scoring a season-high 89 points on a season-high 58.2% clip from the field.
UCSB also had 21 assists as a team, another season-high, and shot 85% from the free-throw line and 38.1% from 3-point range.
The Gauchos also had a stellar third quarter, scoring 30 points on 12-16 shooting from the field, including 3-6 makes from deep.
It was the fifth time in the Henrickson-era the Gauchos scored 30 in a single frame.
“That third quarter was Ila inside, it was over the top, it was threes, it was layups and for us, it’s about being more intentional and finding her (Lane) earlier,” Henrickson said.
“Her shot attempts in the first quarter aren’t where they need to be, so we have to establish that so that we can play inside out… it’s not what we’re running, it’s about how we’re playing.”
Lane also added 10 boards, notching her third double-double of the season. The 6-foot-4 forward also contributed three blocks on the defensive end.
“This was the first time this season I was getting easy looks,” Lane said. “We were driving into the basket and if they would miss, I would be in a good position to get an offensive board.”
The 27 points came on her most efficient night as a Gaucho, going 13-14 from the field. Her only miss was a short layup around the rim in the third quarter that she snatched back and then immediately made the ensuing shot.
“This game really just built my confidence — I really needed this as a confidence boost,” Lane said.
“I was getting down on myself, I wasn’t feeling like I was contributing in the right way. But we’ve been working in practice and the main thing that was really been good for me this game was the dunk-in’s (post move), timing it, making sure that when it was passed and rotated out on from the opposite side of the floor.”
Lane, who missed the entire 2020 season after opting out due to the COVID-19 pandemic, added this was the first time since her freshman year that she really felt like “her old self.” She credited assistant coach Kaili McLaren for helping her reach this point again.
“It did take me a little while to feel like my actual self in a game,” Lane said. “Not just game shape, but also building my confidence again and reminding myself that I still am the player I was freshman year.”
Miller, who ended up scoring 14 points Thursday to go along with five assists, needed just four points to become the 28th player in Gaucho women’s history to reach the 1,000-point mark
Miller struggled in the first half, shooting 0-4 from the field. She scored her first basket of the game at the 9:00 minute mark of the third quarter and followed it up with a fast-break layup just one minute later to reach the achievement.
“I kind of forget at the moment, but my dad is my stat buff, so he kept me aware of it,” Miller said with a laugh. “But it was really nice to see that… it’s kind of surreal to be part of such a great history at this school.”
After that, the game came naturally to Miller again, adding her only make from three and a free throw to score eight of the Gauchos 30 points in that third quarter run.
Miller would score another six in the final frame to help put the game away.
“For some reason, the first half doesn’t ever really seem to be my friend in scoring,” Miller said. “But when I got that quick two, it gave me a better feeling. I just needed to see one go in, and I was a lot more aggressive getting down hill and that opened up my three ball to give me a better rhythm.”
Denver came out hot to start the contest, knocking down back-to-back threes to take an early 6-0 lead. UCSB would respond with a three of their own and would then attack the paint, with both teams scoring back and forth.
Eventually, the Pioneers ended the first quarter with a three-point lead after knocking down four makes from deep.
“We tried to make them drivers (after the first quarter),” Henrickson said.
“You’re trying to create some fatigue because if you just let them stand out there and shoot threes, they will find success. But if you make them drivers, fatigue will become a factor and it did become more in the second half.”
In the second quarter, the UCSB defense forced five turnovers and held Denver to just two three-point makes. At 31-30, Santa Barbara used an 11-2 run to outpace Denver and take a 44-35 lead into the break.
Freshman guard Kennedy Johnson scored all of her seven points for the Gauchos during that run.
In the third quarter, UCSB took over, with Miller’s eight points along with Lane’s 10 in the frame to outscore the Pioneers 30-21, taking an 18-point lead in the final quarter.
Junior point guard Johnni Gonzalez had three assists in the third quarter as well. She would finish the game with a game-high seven assists.
Denver tried to make things interesting in the final frame, using an 8-0 run in the final four minutes to cut the score to eight with 1:57 to play.
After both sides traded a basket, Lane would seal the game with a layup to put her team up 87-77 with 35 seconds left.
UCSB will have 10 days off before their next matchup, a home contest against Bethesda University at 4 p.m. Dec. 12.