Drew Edelman scored a team-best 19 points and Drea Toler came off the bench to score 17, leading UC Santa Barbara to its fourth straight win, a 74-62 triumph over the University of Hawai’i Rainbow Wahine Saturday evening at the Thunderdome.
The win closed out a perfect three-game home stand for the Gauchos (9-9, 4-1), who finish the week tied atop the Big West Conference.
“I think the confidence comes from embracing how hard it is to be successful and finding a way to succeed. The unselfishness, that they all trust each other, you get a sense of that,” said head coach Bonnie Henrickson of the winning streak.
Onome Jemerigbe scored 11 points, snared six rebounds and dished a game-high six assists for the Gauchos.
“Our point guards do a great job of distributing the ball and taking care of it. I give a lot of credit to them for it,” said Coco Miller, who contributed five assists, four points and three rebounds.
UCSB came out firing, knocking down their first four shots from the field and netting four of their first five attempts from beyond the arc. Sarah Porter made three of four triples, putting up nine points. She suffered a shoulder injury and did not return to action after the opening 10 minutes.
Eleven points off five Hawai’i (6-11, 2-3) turnovers helped the Gauchos jump ahead early, and hold an eight-point advantage through the first quarter. Edelman’s determined play down low and Toler’s surgical slashes led the Gauchos to a 32-18 advantage on points in the paint edge.
“Once we played Cal Poly we saw how physical and fast paced and physical playing in conference could be,” Edelman said.
The Rainbow Wahine tied the score at 33-33 in the opening minutes of the third quarter. From there Makala Roper answered with a three ball and Aliceah Hernandez heated up with a pair of triples en route to scoring all eight of her points in the quarter.
“We’ve continued to fix areas where we’ve struggled, we’ve been able to answer some runs by getting some stops,” said Henrickson.
With a five-point lead entering the final frame, the Gauchos put the hammer down. Edelman drew a charge on the first possession of the quarter, then proceeded to produce five of UCSB’s eight straight points. From there, Toler got hot, putting up ten of her points.
The Gauchos have a pair of road games next week, visiting Cal State Northridge on Wednesday then traveling to UC Irvine on Saturday.