Women's Basketball Can't Overcome Second Half Cold Spell In 74-61 Loss At UCSB

Thursday, January 23

Santa Barbara, CA

7:00 pm

University of California, Riverside

4-14, 0-5

UC Santa Barbara

6-11,1-3

Team	1	2	F
UC Riverside	32	29	61
UC Santa Barbara	34	40	74

Photo by: Carlos Puma

Women's Basketball Can't Overcome Second Half Cold Spell In 74-61 Loss At UCSB

1/23/2014 5:48:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Santa Barbara - The UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team hit a cold spell midway through the second period Thursday evening, and could not recover as UC Santa Barbara earned the 74-61 victory in Big West Conference action. The Highlanders fall to 4-14 overall and 0-5 in league play, while the Gauchos improve to 6-11, 1-3 (box score).

After a first half which saw five tie scores and three lead changes, the Highlanders hit a cold spell from the 12:28 mark to the 6:47 juncture in the second, going scoreless while allowing UCSB to take a double-digit lead. Even though UCR cut the margin to two possessions, it was not enough of a comeback as UC Santa Barbara pushed its advantage back to double-digits to conclude the game.

For the third time in five Big West games, UC Riverside outshot its opponent in a loss: the Highlanders hit 42.6 percent of their shots compared to 39.4 percent for UCSB. The Gauchos crashed the boards, however, grabbing 55 rebounds to UCR's 30, while owning the paint, scoring 34 to the Highlander's six.

Brittany Crain scored 19 points to lead UC Riverside, scoring 13 of them after the break. Simone DeCoud added 13 points while Annelise Ito had eight, and Natasha Hadley, Kiara Harewood, and Jamila Williams all had six.

Nicole Nesbit scored 20 points to lead all players, while Melissa Zornig added 16 points and Jasmine Ware had a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.

In the first half, Crain connected on back-to-back three-pointers to open the game, as the Highlanders had the lead for the first 14 minutes of action. UCR pushed its advantage as high as seven, 13-6, following a DeCoud long ball at the 14:31 mark, and continued to hold its margin between four and six points for the next seven minutes.

The Gauchos made a push, though, turning a 24-19 deficit into a 26-24 lead with 5:29 to go in the period. The teams' traded buckets over the next few minutes as there were four tie scores to conclude the half, with UCSB taking the 34-32 advantage into the break.

The Gauchos scored four of the first six points of the second half, but UC Riverside responded as Crain scored five straight to give the blue and gold a 39-38 lead at the 17:33 mark.

The squads traded baskets until UC Santa Barbara scored 13 consecutive, and UCR went on a cold spell, as the Gauchos went up by 12, 63-51, with 7:27 left in the game. The Highlanders scoreless streak spanned over five minutes of action as they went 0-of-7 from the floor including six missed free throws.

A pair of DeCoud free throws snapped the streak and started a 6-0 run for the Highlanders as the lead was cut to 63-57 with just under five minutes remaining. But the Gauchos lead quickly reached double-figures again as they held on for the 74-61 victory.

The Highlanders continue their Central Coast swing with a Saturday, January 25 game at Cal Poly beginning at 4 pm PT in San Luis Obispo, CA.