Huskies hush Gauchos at Thunderdome

UCSB's Kelsey Adrian was the Gauchos' high scorer with a season-high of 14 points. (Vince Agapito Photo)

A cold shooting night inside the Thunderdome doomed the UCSB women’s basketball team in a 46-37 loss to Washington on Wednesday.

UCSB hit on just 22.6 percent of its shots, including a mere 15.4 percent in the first half.

On the bright side, the Gauchos held a bigger Washington team to just 36.2 percent shooting, but UCSB couldn’t overcome its own offensive woes. Though UCSB cut it close on a trio of three-pointers from Kelsey Adrian in the final two minutes, it wasn’t enough to overtake a Huskies team that led by as many as 14 with 7:09 to play.

UCSB's Destinee Mason drives to the basket against Washington on Wednesday.

UCSB’s two-game winning streak was snapped and the team falls to 2-3. Washington improves to 3-1.

Santa Barbara scored just 11 first-half points against the Huskies, the program’s second-lowest total in a first half ever.

Yet, as the ebb and flow of the game dictated, UCSB didn’t let Washington run away with it. Santa Barbara held UW to just 20 first-half points.

For the third straight game UCSB limited its turnovers and was aggressive on defense. The Gauchos committed just 10 turnovers while Washington had 18 of them. However UW outrebounded the Gauchos 45-34 and scored 24 points in the paint, indicative of the size differential the team held over UCSB.

Adrian led UCSB with 14 points, a season-best, as no other Gaucho scored in double digits. Sweets Underwood had seven points and five rebounds. Kirsten Tilleman and Emilie Johnson each had six rebounds.

Washington was led by 6-foot-3 center Regina Rogers who had 16 points and eight rebounds, going 7 of 11 from the floor. Freshman Jazmine Davis finished with 13 for the Huskies.

UCSB got as close as eight points, 40-32 with 1:02 left, but Washington hit on six of nine free throws down the stretch to keep the Gauchos at arm’s length.

UCSB will play at Northern Colorado on Sunday with tip-off scheduled for 1 p.m. PDT. The game can be heard live online in its entirety by clicking here. AM 990 KTMS will join the game in progress at 2 p.m.

The Gauchos play at home again on Friday, Dec. 2 against USF at 7 p.m. Tickets are available by calling 893-UCSB (8272)