The Lindsay Gottlieb era began in earnest on Sunday afternoon at the Thunderdome as UCSB’s rookie head coach led the Gauchos to a 75-66 victory over the University of San Diego in their regular-season opener.
“I’m not going to lie, it feels really good,” Gottlieb admitted after the game. “To be honest, I got a little emotional in the locker room because it’s such a great group. What I told them is that, as a young coach, you really think about, gosh, what will it be like when I’m head coach? And you think about this moment.”
The fact that it was here, in this place, with the way those women played, I could not have asked for anything else. It was a neat thing.”
The successful debut was in jeopardy as the Toreros, a NCAA Tournament team from a year ago led by returning all-West Coast Conference player Amanda Sprague, erased a 10-point halftime deficit to draw even at 46-46 with a little more than nine minutes left in the contest.
Two Lauren Pederson layups and a Kat Suderman jumper quickly restored some of the Gauchos’ lead at 52-46 and UCSB managed to hold off the Toreros (1-1) the rest of the way despite Sprague’s 31 points.
UCSB was strong at the free-throw line, netting 28-of-36 to keep the Toreros off their backs down the stretch. Freshman guard Emilie Johnson made six straight free throws in the final 2:09 to ice it.
Pederson, who had a career-high 27 points, was 11-for-11 at the line. She added seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
“The type of effort they showed, their ability to find a way when we struggled a little bit in the second half offensively, that’s the team I want to coach,” continued Gottlieb, whose Gauchos were outscored in the half 41-40.
Gottlieb’s Gauchos start a three-game road trip on Thursday at Fresno State. UCSB doesn’t have another game at the Thunderdome until Dec. 4 against Nevada.
