SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The University of California, Riverside (UCR) women's basketball team lost a hard-fought battle for game two versus the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Gauchos, 76-83 on the road in the Thunderdome.
 
Jordan Webster led three Highlanders who shot double figures with 19 points, while Keilanei Cooper tallied 16 and Lauryn Pointer added 13 to UCR's total. It wouldn't be enough to overcome UCSB's effort, which included a 35-point night from Doris Jones, who shot 13-17 on field goals, and earned the game's only double double with ten rebounds.
 
The Highlanders won the tip off and sunk the first basket, but the Gauchos launched into 10-2 run over the next two minutes, creating enough of a gap to hold off the Highlanders for the rest of the quarter, 20-26.
 
Head Coach Nicole Powell said, "We dug ourselves in a hole again and then spent a ton of energy trying to flip that. We are searching and figuring out how to have a better start to the games, how to execute the game plan defensively, and we just haven't quite been on point the way we need to be, especially down the stretch." She continued, "On the other hand we showed great fight and resilience tonight at times. I loved seeing how we battled back."
 
UC Riverside chased the Gauchos through much of the second quarter, remaining within the six-point margin from the first quarter for most of the period. Jones sunk six points in the last 2 minutes of the half to extend UCSB's lead to 34-46 as the teams entered halftime. 
 
The Highlanders fought for a chance to cut the deficit in the third quarter, outscoring UCSB 20-18, but were held off by Gauchos defense, trailing behind their opponents 54-64 entering the final quarter.
 
It was a fight to the finish as the Highlanders executed their most effective quarter offensively in the final frame of the game, putting 22 points up against UCSB's 19. However, they would ultimately be unable to top the tremendous performance by Jones for UC Santa Barbara.
 
Coach Powell said, "No one enjoys losing, I certainly don't, but there were some positives to this game. We will continue to build on the high points as we prepare for the tournament."
 
The Highlanders finish their Big West Conference slate with an overall record of 7-11 and a conference record of 5-9. UC Riverside looks to the Big West Conference Basketball Tournament next, as they have an open weekend on March 4 and 5 when the rest of conference play wraps up, due to originally being scheduled to play CSUN who ultimately opted out of the 2020-21 season due to COVID concerns. Coach Powell is tasking her team with rest ahead of postseason, saying, "Right now, we have some bumps and bruises. We need to take some time to recover this week, we're a little beat up. So we are looking forward to rest and recuperate and focus, as always, on getting better, especially as we look ahead to the tournament." Details on seeding and the bracket for the tournament can be found here.