Trailing by five to start the fourth quarter, the UCSB women’s basketball team put forth one of its best runs of the season, starting the frame on a 13-0 run, lifting the team to a 66-58 victory over Sacramento State at the Thunderdome Saturday evening.
With the victory, Santa Barbara picks up its third straight win and improves to 5-3 on the season, while Sac State falls to 4-7 overall. The Gauchos will have their final non-conference game of the season Tuesday when the team travels to San Jose State.
“We had some really good moments and then some not so good, but we were always really, really close and then we found our rhythm,” head coach Bonnie Henrickson said.
“We just needed them to hang in there on a night that we struggled offensively and they did just that so I am proud of them.”
Junior guard Alexis Tucker played her best game of the season Saturday, finding her shooting stroke from both inside and beyond the arc. The transfer from Texas Tech finished with a career-high 21 points, leading all scorers in the contest. She shot 7-for-11 from the floor, including 2-of-3 from deep and went 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.
It is the third time this year that a UCSB player has scored 20 points in a single contest.
“I just told myself to be aggressive,” Tucker said.
“I knew that some of my shots weren’t falling but they were going to come, so I just made sure that I stayed aggressive.”
Tucker was also exceptional defensively, chipping in three steals and one block.
She also played a season-high 26 minutes off the bench, sparking the Gauchos offense multiple times throughout the game.
“For me, the energy was just right for me today; I was just getting kind of riled up,” Tucker said.
“They were a great team, they definitely challenged us, but I knew that I had to be aggressive and that this was going to be a dogfight, so I know that energy for me was what really got me going.”
The Gauchos started the third quarter trailing by just two, but Sacramento State quickly extended that lead to eight with a 3-pointer and an and-1 layup, and overall using a 12-3 run to take a 41-30 lead.
“Everything was going to just two players inside and out so we knew we needed to be aggressive and trap them,” Henrickson said.
The two players Henrickson referenced was sophomore center Isnelle Natabou who finished with 20 points and graduate guard Lianna Tillman who finished with 12 for Sac State.
Out of the timeout, UCSB forced two turnovers and turned in three quick baskets, capped off by a Danae Miller three, to cut the lead down to four.
Miller, a senior guard, finished the game with 11 points and chipped in five rebounds and three assists as well.
Both teams traded baskets for the rest of the frame, with the Gauchos trailing 47-42 heading into the fourth quarter.
But UCSB really stepped up in the fourth quarter.
The team started the frame with a 13-0 run and overall, outpaced Sac State 24-11 in the final frame.
The Gauchos held the Hornets to 22% shooting from the floor in the fourth and also forced three of the teams 20 turnovers.
“We created momentum from our defense and then all of a sudden everything was not in rhythm for them because those two were struggling and we found our own rhythm,” Henrickson said.
“It’s a game of runs. We had some timely shots, tried to calm everybody down, hit some tough shots and then we got some easy looks but all the while still being aggressive and tracking stuff down.”
Tucker started the fourth quarter hot, knocking down her second 3-pointer of the game, then converting on a layup inside to tie the game at 47 on the Gauchos’ first two offensive possessions of the frame.
Taylor Mole then gave the Gauchos their first lead of the second half after knocking down a mid-range shot with 8:01 left to go in the game.
Kennedy Johnson then scored four straight, including following up her own miss with a layup, to extend the Gauchos lead to six at 53-47 with 5:53 to go, forcing a Sac State timeout.
After another UCSB basket, Sac State finally answered back with a couple of buckets from Natabou, but Santa Barbara stayed active, eventually pushing its lead to as much as 12, and never let the lead get below four points en route to the win.
As a team, UCSB struggled at times, finishing the game with 17 turnovers but the team did shoot 44% from the floor.
“We haven’t put 40 minutes together and we really have not come out of the gate sharp and with some pop, but I think our practices have been sharp and we have cleaned up some nice stuff in transition,” Henrickson said.
“We have a quick turnaround here but we need to finish business Tuesday, get into the holidays and finally get into conference play.”
UCSB will play San Jose State Tuesday at 4 p.m.