Mark Patton: Transfer Portal a Busy Two-Way Street for UCSB Women’s Basketball

Women’s basketball recruiting has become a coast-to-coast fast break this month for UC Santa Barbara coach Bonnie Henrickson.

She started last week by giving a tour of her paradisiacal, seaside campus to a transfer candidate from the East Coast.

She ended it by flying to the East Coast for a showcase tournament to scout next year’s recruits — many of whom play for California traveling teams.

“All of us coaches on the West Coast were like, ‘Really? We have to come all the way out here because you’re all playing here?’’ Henrickson told Noozhawk with a laugh.

Her Gauchos were just a few points short of a trip to last month’s NCAA Tournament. Hawai‘i ended their brilliant, 21-12 season by scoring a three-point play with just 3.4 seconds remaining to beat them 61-59 in the championship game of the Big West Conference Tournament.

“You get that close, and get the taste of that, and the excitement of all that, and it certainly becomes an impetus for the spring, summer and fall,” Henrickson said.

Nobody has been working harder this spring than the veteran coach. She has plenty of roster spots to fill, returning only five of the Gauchos who played in the league tournament.

Gem from Down Under

Henrickson signed three high school recruits last fall and found another overseas this spring in 6-foot-1 Australian Olivia Bradley.

She’s now focused on the transfer market to add some experience to the lineup.

“We’re doing some online shopping in the portal,” she mused. “We’ve got two for sure … Three, more than likely … Maybe four.

“We’ve had good interest and a lot of good conversations. We’ve had a couple on campus and a few more on the horizon.”

But while the transfer portal can giveth, it has also taketh away from UCSB.

Four Gauchos have entered college basketball’s free-agent marketplace.

They include graduating seniors Ila Lane and Alexis Tucker, both of whom won All-Big West Conference first-team honors this season. Both also made the Big West All-Academic Team and would like to pursue graduate-school degrees.

Lane’s statistics for this year include 11.8 points, 8.2 rebounds … and a 3.7 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale. That last number earned the 6-foot-4 center a spot on the Scholar-Athlete All-America Team sponsored by the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association.

“Ila wants to be a family therapist, and we just didn’t have her grad program,” Henrickson said. “It makes no sense for her to get into a grad program afterward and have to pay $130,000 for that degree.

“We’re supporting her and trying to help her. She’s got some good opportunities.”

Tucker Transfers to Florida State

Tucker, a 5-11 guard who averaged a team-high 14.3 points per game as well as 6.1 rebounds, committed to Florida State last week.

“She felt like that was a move that would help her play professionally,” Henrickson said. “It is what it is.”

It’s the second time that Tucker has changed schools. She played her first two seasons for Big-12 power Texas Tech.

“I don’t give it any negative energy because we’ve had positive experiences with the transfer portal, like we did earlier with Alexis,” Henrickson said. “There are a couple of players that we’re talking to now that we recruited before.

“You look at the size we lost in the senior class between Ila, Tuck, Taylor Mole and Tatyana Modawar … We’ve been intentional about bringing in some size with this incoming group.”

Bradley will be switching continents with Mole, who is now playing in Australia’s Women’s National Basketball League. Mole, a 6-2 stretch forward from Australia’s island state of Tasmania, has averaged 15.8 points and 6.8 rebounds in her first four games with the Cairns Dolphins.

Bradley, a 6-1 wing player from Adelaide, played for Australia at the 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup in Hungary. She also averaged 26 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks at the Nike Tournament of Champions for the Eastern Mavericks, an NBL-1 team.

“Olivia brings size, length, and athleticism to the forward position,” Henrickson said. “Her speed and playmaking ability will impact the game in transition.”

The three recruits she signed last fall bring more length to the Gauchos: 6-1 wing Bella Barrett of Millennium High School in Goodyear, Arizona; 6-foot forward Zoe Borter of Beaverton (Oregon) High, and 6-1 guard Kanani Coon of Okanagan Mission Secondary School in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Whitfield of Dreams

Henrickson is counting on 6-2 Alexis Whitfield to give the Gauchos the inside presence they’ve lost with Lane’s departure.

Whitfield, who transferred to UCSB last year after playing two years at Washington, had big games off the bench this season against Big West regular-season champion UC Irvine, averaging 16 points and nine rebounds in those two contests.

“She needs to shoulder more, and she’s capable of more,” Henrickson said. “She’s had a really good spring.

“She can feel it. We’ve communicated it, talking about her role and how that’s going to change … How much more we need to have the ball in her hands, and how much more we need her to score.

“She’s in a really good place now and just gets better every week.”

Laurel Rockwood, a 6-4 center, has the size to plug the big hole that Lane left at center. She played only two games as a freshman this season because of injuries.

“We need her defensively and on the rim,” Henrickson said. “She’s physical, and I don’t know how much more physical we’re going to get with the people we’re talking to in the portal.”

Gauchos On Guard

Two of UCSB’s reserves — point guard Callie Cooper and forward Kennedy Johnson — joined Lane and Tucker in the transfer portal this spring.

But UCSB still returns four of its top guards. They include Alyssa Marin — a former Camarillo High star with 8.3 points, 2.8 assists — and Anya Choice (7.9 points, 2.5 assists), both of whom have been starters since their freshman season of 2020-2021.

“They both lead by example,” Henrickson said. “They work hard and they’re committed to what we’re doing.

“They’re really good kids. They’re the most experienced guards we have.”

A pair of freshmen showed flashes of brilliance in the backcourt last season.

Jessica Grant led UCSB with 41 three-pointers, making 39.4% of her attempts. Skylar Burke shot 35% from three.

“Skylar had a chance to be in the starting lineup until she ripped open her hand and was out for like a month in January,” Henrickson said. “That impacted her and us because she plays with so much energy —gets loose balls, dives on the floor, and she was getting to where she was making her threes.

“And then we’ve got Jessica who is lights out from the three. Now she’s just got to be prepared for when everyone runs her off the line and fights her off the screen. She also has a good midrange game and she’s a good passer. We just have to give her some confidence in putting it on the floor.”

But the Gaucho coach will be looking to fill a few more spots before she returns to the court.

“It’s exciting, actually,” Henrickson said. “It’s exciting to meet the players and their families, and to think about what can be.”