UC Santa Barbara needed some of their blue-haired veterans to step up against an extremely green Cal Poly women’s basketball team to win Saturday’s Blue-Green rivalry game at the Thunderdome.
Senior Skylar Burke and junior Zoe Borter scored 14 of the Gauchos’ last 17 points to hold off a comeback by the upset-minded Mustangs, 63-54, in the Valentine’s Day matchup.
Last-place Cal Poly trimmed a 16-point deficit to three points with two minutes to go before the Gauchos put them away with nine free throws.
“We’ve got to keep growing,” UCSB coach Renee Jimenez said. “It’s like we’re trying to plug a lot of holes in the boat.
“I’m proud of how we responded from Thursday night’s game, but just too many little mistakes.”
The Gauchos (17-7, 9-6 Big West Conference) had lost four of their previous five games, which included UC Riverside’s upset at the Thunderdome on Thursday.
Cal Poly (3-22, 1-14), a team with only one junior and no seniors, suffered its 11th consecutive defeat.
Borter scored seven of her game-high 18 points in the final 1:51. Burke, who played just 12 minutes on her gimpy left ankle, scored all seven of her points in the final 7:37.
The Gauchos took a 36-22 lead into halftime after finding the three-point touch that had gone missing in the previous 10 games.
UCSB made 8-of-18 long shots in the first 20 minutes — three by point guard Maddie Naro and two more by Borter — to take a 36-22 lead.
Naro finished with 10 points and six assists with just one turnover. Seventeen of the Gauchos’ 21 baskets were assisted.
“We get a lot of our confidence from our offense when we’re in transition,” Jimenez said. “We’ve got the great point guard, Maddie Naro, and what she does and creates.
“We’re really good when we’re sharing the ball.”
But another cold front froze the Gaucho shooters in the second half. They made only 1-of-10 threes after the break while shooting just 33.3% overall in the final 20 minutes.
They shot 40.4% for the game to Cal Poly’s 37.3% and out-rebounded the Mustangs 35-32.
“We know we can’t seem to find five guys that are all doing the same thing at the same time in long spurts,” Jimenez said. “We do it occasionally, but if we want to make a push here in the postseason, we’ve got to get better.”
UCSB started the second half with a driving basket by Julia Puente-Valverde to increase its lead to 16 points.
But Cal Poly freshman Charish Thompson made four straight baskets — three on open jumpers and the fourth on a drive to the basket — to reduce the Gauchos’ lead to 38-30 just four minutes later.
“The way we started the second half giving up (eight) points to No. 32 … She was the focal point,” Jimenez said.
Borter’s three paused the bleeding momentarily. But UCSB missed all six of the three-pointers they attempted after that.
The Mustangs got threes from Katie Peiffer and Nora Perez to reduce the Gaucho lead to 46-41 with 8:40 remaining.
Burke helped turn the tide by scoring a put-back after rebounding a missed three.
Sophomore forward Olivia Bradley cashed in UCSB’s next possession with a basket on a spinning drive to get the lead up to nine points.
Bradley finished with nine points and a game-high six rebounds. Her last basket came only after some coaxing from Jimenez.
“I told Olivia Bradley, ‘You have to shoot more … Even if you shoot 46%, you’re probably going to end up with 17 or 18 points,’” she said. “We need more guys to come to the offensive party.
“Still a lot of growth (to be made). Liv is a sophomore still, so there’s no difference between her and some of the great players in the Big West except her confidence.
“We just try to keep filling her with that, and we need her to believe in herself so we can get some big games from her.”
Burke followed Bradley’s lead by scoring off her own spin move with 4:18 to go.
Cal Poly responded with the next six points, drawing to within 52-49 on Dulci Vail’s three with 2:20 left.
But Borter’s driving scoop shot for a three-point play with 1:13 on the clock put UCSB back on course.
“We have to be more focused, possession for possession,” Jimenez said. “Just keep getting better every week.”