Jnior point guard Danae Miller scored 14 points, senior guard Coco Miller had 12 and freshman center Ila Lane completed her league-high 11th double-double of the season, but it wasn’t enough for the UC Santa Barbara women’s basketball team to beat UC Davis, as the Aggies took a 56-46 decision in a Big West game at the Thunderdome on Thursday.
The Gauchos struggled with their shooting, making just 16 of 57 shots and 5 of 24 on three-pointers.
The first quarter began as an even matchup with the Gauchos and Aggies battling it out with UCSB holding the lead throughout the first five minutes of the game. UC Davis gained the lead at the 4:33 mark after Campbell Gray hit a jumper, and they maintained that lead through to the end of the opening frame, leading 13-9.
UC Davis kept it up in the second quarter, staying ahead despite UCSB’s best efforts to take the lead. Twice, the Gauchos got within one of the Aggies, first with a Danae Miller turnover, and then when Ila Lane put away a second-chance layup off the glass.
Ultimately, Davis took a five-point lead into the break, up 26-21 after a last-second jumper by Katie Toole, who led the Aggies with 18 points.
A Tal Sahar layup gave the Gauchos the first points of the second half, but it served as a precursor to an 11-0 run by UC Davis, its longest of the night, that gave the Aggies a 14-point lead to go ahead 37-23, and that would grow to a 42-28 lead by the end of the quarter.
Needing to inject some life into the game, the Gauchos began the final quarter with their longest scoring run of the game. Danae Miller pushed the Gauchos up to the 30-point mark with a pair of free throws and Coco Miller followed by scoring back-to-back three-pointers to bridge the gap to six points. However, the visitors responded with a six-point run and kept their lead intact throughout the rest of the night.
Lane finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds and had three blocked shots.
This Saturday, the Gauchos take on Fullerton in Titan Gym.