Overview:
Olivia Bradley, the Gauchos' leading scorer with 11 points, left the game in the third quarter with an eye injury
LOS ANGELES — UC Santa Barbara, a long shot to upset third-ranked UCLA in women’s basketball, didn’t have the long shot to pull it off.
The Gauchos missed 23 of their 27 attempts from three-point range and lost 87-50 at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday.
They were harassed all afternoon by a crowd of 6,863 which included thousands of screaming schoolchildren attending UCLA’s annual “Field Trip Day.”
UCLA coach Cori Close thanked the young fans afterward by saying, “Kids, you were awesome … I really appreciate it.”
“And thank you to everybody for showing up at 11:30 a.m.,” she added. “This is a really fun day for us and we love to share it with everybody.”
She especially enjoyed sharing it with her alma mater.
Close was a co-captain and star point guard for UCSB’s NCAA Tournament teams of 1992 and 1993. She also served as coach Mark French’s assistant from 1995 to 2004.
“I wouldn’t be where I am, I wouldn’t have these opportunities, without having played and coached at UCSB,” Close said. “I’m very proud to be a Gaucho, really thankful for their program participating in this game with us, and really proud of the way they played, the way they fight.
“That’s just what I said to them going through the lines: ‘Good luck the rest of the way, and when I’m not a Bruin, it’s go Gauchos.’”
There was little luck to be found for UCSB at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday.
Even sophomore Olivia Bradley, their leading scorer with 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting, had to leave the game in the closing seconds of the third quarter after getting poked hard in the eye.
Without her, the Gauchos scored only two points in the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter.
UCLA started the game on an 8-0 run. UCSB bounced back with a 13-5 spree of its own in the next 4½ minutes.
Forward Julia Puente-Valverde came off the bench to assist a back-door layup by Zoe Borter before scoring six straight points of her own.
Her runner knotted the score at 13-all with 2:38 left in the first period.
Puente-Valverde, a transfer from McNeese State by way of Barcelona, Spain, finished with 10 points and four rebounds.
Freshman Chauncey Andersen was also productive off the bench with four rebounds and seven points in 18 minutes.
Borter assisted a fast-break layup by Skylar Burke and then hit a pair of free throws to keep the Gauchos within four by the end of the first quarter.
A slick up-and-under move by Maddie Naro got UCSB within 21-19 to start the second period.
The Gauchos were still within striking distance at 32-24 after Bradley drove for one basket and then popped in a three-pointer from the top of the key.
But Gianna Kneepkens, a 6-foot graduate transfer from the University of Utah, got hot with a pair of threes and two free throws to spur UCLA’s 19-2 run to end the first half.
Kneepkens scored 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting which included 4-of-8 from three-point distance.
“We are so thrilled with how she affects our spacing and our ball movement, and how she attacks the basket,” Close said. “She did it in the mid-range game as well as from three.
“She got hotter today, and I think she’s just scratching the surface in how she’ll be integrated into our team.”
Three senior holdovers from UCLA’s NCAA Final Four team of last year also asserted themselves.
Former Camarillo High School star Gabriela Jaquez led all scorers with 21 points which included 4-of-7 shooting from three.
Kiki Rice added 20, making 7-of-7 free throws on a day the Bruins converted 17-of-18 foul shots.
Lauren Betts, UCLA’s 6-foot-7 center, contributed 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
“That’s what it’s going to be all year,” Close said. “It’s going to be different people and different opportunities.”
The Bruins out-rebounded the much smaller Gauchos 43-24.
Angela Dugalic and Charlisse Leger-Walker compounded UCSB’s woes by combining for seven steals. The Gauchos committed 17 turnovers.
“I thought we played with better energy than we did on Monday,” Close said, referring to UCLA’s 77-53 victory over San Diego State at Anaheim’s Honda Center in the Orange County Hoops Classic.
“That’s what we’ve got to keep focusing on … how we’re improving game-by-game.”