Drea Toler hit a buzzer-beating shot to lift UC Santa Barbara to a 50-49 women’s basketball win at Fresno State on Friday night.
“It’s been a long time,” said head coach Bonnie Henrickson of snapping a five-game losing streak and winning on the road for the first time this season. “At the buzzer? Those are fun, it’s a lot of fun.”
Henrickson said the play was totally improvised.
“With nine seconds there’s no play to run. You’re just trying to drive and kick, and (Onome Jemerigbe) did a great job of keeping her dribble and Drea found a window to get rid of it.”
UCSB knocked down seven of 14 three pointers, and shot 42.6 percent from the field.
Sarah Porter and Coco Miller each added nine points, while Jemerigbe contributed eight points with three assists. Porter corralled four rebounds, while Miller dealt three assists. Drew Edelman equalled her season-high of seven rebounds.
UCSB led by seven in the third quarter, with Miller scoring seven of her points in the quarter. Fresno State started a run in the final two minutes to cut the lead to 38-36.
It set the stage for a fourth quarter where the teams where tied once, and traded the lead six times.
“Tremendous credit for them to hang in and hang in there,” Henrickson said of her team. “It was ugly, [Fresno] takes the lead, we claw back and get the chance to be in position to hit one.”
UCSB travels to Edinburg, Texas for the the Battle on the Border tournament. The Gauchos face the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Islanders on Monday at 2:30 p.m., and the North Dakota State University Bison on Tuesday.
“To travel like that on an extended trip, it’s chemistry you’re building,” said Henrickson.