It’s hard to win a college basketball game shooting 34 percent.
The UCSB women’s basketball team showed anything’s possible on Sunday afternoon at the Thunderdome, as the Gauchos overcame their offensive struggles to beat UC Riverside 47-40.
“I think championship teams – and that’s what we’re working towards becoming – are teams that can win any which way,” said Santa Barbara head coach Lindsay Gottlieb, whose Gauchos took a big, albeit early, step towards reclaiming the Big West regular season title from the Highlanders.
UCSB improves to 2-0 in conference and evens its overall record at 6-6. With the loss, Riverside (5-9, 1-1) has already matched its total conference loss count from last season when it went 15-1 on its way to the regular season title.
Riverside – down by 11 at halftime thanks to some lights-out shooting from UCSB’s Lauren Pederson – clawed back to within five points with 57 seconds remaining in the second half, but couldn’t get any closer.
“Riverside is a really tough team, they present a lot of matchup problems,” said Gottlieb. “They’re so athletic across the board that if you got to win a game, gritting it out down the end — that’s what I expect to do.”
Pederson’s hot hand carried the Gauchos in the first half. The senior guard scored 18 of her game-high 21 points in the first half, accounting for over 60 percent of the UCSB’s 29-point output in the period.
The Gauchos started quickly, racing out to a 14-4 lead. Pederson set the tone, scoring 10 points during that stretch on two free throws, a layup and two 3-pointers. She also fed Jenna Green for another layup, grabbed a defensive rebound and took the ball away from a driving Jessie Schmuckal to ignite a fast break.
Green posted a double-double for UCSB, pulling down 10 rebounds with 10 points. The sixth-year senior, who iced the game with two free throws in the final minute, is now three points shy of 14th place on the all-time UCSB scoring list, currently held by Kayte Christensen (1998-2002).
Green, Margaret Johnson and Ashlee Brown combined to hold former Big West Conference player of the year Kemie Nkele to 11 points – still a game high for Riverside.
UCSB starts a three-game road trip Thursday at UC Irvine, where the Gauchos will be seeking their first road victory of the season.
