On paper, UCSB’s 51-38 Big West victory over UC Irvine on Saturday was certainly not a thing of beauty.
“A Van Gogh it was not,” admitted head coach Lindsey Gottlieb, whose gritty Gauchos were ranked No. 4 in the country in field-percentage allowed coming into the game.
UCSB showed its defensive side again against the Anteaters, holding them to under 36 percent from the field on the way to the tenth conference win without a loss.
But on Saturday – without starters Sha’Rae Gibbons and Jenna Green – the Gauchos actually shot worse than Irvine, connecting on only a third of their attempts.
When it counted though, UCSB put together a 19-7 run that spanned nearly 12 minutes late in the second half to open up a 10-point lead and put the Anteaters (5-18, 2-8) to bed.
Gottlieb said she never doubted her team would pull it out without two of its leaders because of the look in their eyes.
“There are not a lot of teams in the country that can have a starting point guard and your post-player – arguably one of the best all-around players in the conference – out and be able to not miss a beat. But that’s what we expect to do.”
Green, who had been averaging 17.5 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks over her last four games, is day-to-day with a sore shoulder while Gibbons’ knee injury is more mysterious. She injured a knee at the end of Thursday’s win over Cal State Fullerton and is awaiting results to see the extent of the injury.
Lauren Pederson and Whitney Warren picked up the scoring slack with 16 and 12 respectively, which accounted for more than half of UCSB’s final tally. Pederson was busy doing other things too, collecting six assists, six steals, three blocks, five rebounds, was 7-of-7 from the line and knocked down the Gauchos’ only 3-point bucket.
Gottlieb leaned heavily on her senior guard, keeping her on the court for 39 minutes.
“It was just a grind-out win. I’m really proud of my teammates,” said Pederson, deflecting the credit elsewhere. “They stepped up. We had Whitney, Kat (Suderman), Margaret (Johnson), I mean, hustle points all over the place.”
It also helps to have some home cooking from the referees, and Irvine didn’t see the free-throw line until there were four minutes remaining and the Gauchos winning 39-32.
Of course UCSB was already in the bonus by that point and made 12-of-14 from the charity stripe in the second half to help the cause.
The game marks the end of a brief two-game homestand and the Gauchos play 5 of their last 7 games on the road, starting Saturday at Cal Poly (6-3 BW).
