Santa Barbara, Calif. - The UC Riverside Women's Basketball team fell 68-52 to UC Santa Barbara in game one of the Big West series. 

The Highlanders were unable to overcome a slow start, as the Gauchos got out to an 18-8 lead in the opening frame. The hosts rode that early momentum to a halftime 37-23 advantage. 

Head Coach Nicole Powell reflected on the loss, saying, "We just didn't have a very good start. We have to have a better sense of urgency and intensity at the beginning of the game. Defensively, we are giving up the three-ball way too easily. They wound up shooting around 50% from distance. It isn't a great formula for success to let your opponent shoot from the arc like that."

Although UCR was outrebounded 40-22, they only committed 13 turnovers compared to 20 for UCSB and played the second half at close range, 31-29. 

On finding success in the back half of the game, Coach Powell commented, "I'm really proud of and encouraged by our second unit. We had some people who came in off the bench and played some great minutes, really played hard in the second, third, fourth quarter of the game. Although the start of the game wasn't great, we played a really hard and strong back half."

Lauryn Pointer led the Highlanders with 15 points (5-5 FT) in 33 minutes of play, while Suzan Kinran added eight points on 3-6 shooting, including 2-4 from three-point range. Bryanna Brady led her team defensively with five rebounds, while Joy Campbell contributed a team-high six assists and four steals.

Coach Powell looks to tomorrow, saying, "We really just need to get out there and play harder and tougher. We can't give up threes like that. We are excited to come back and make some adjustments tomorrow."

Game two is Saturday, at 5pm on Big West TV from The Thunderdome.