SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga jumped out to a double-digit lead less than five minutes into the game Wednesday night and didn’t stop from there, handily defeating UC Santa Barbara 88-52.
The Gauchos lost for the fourth straight time and fall to 3-9 overall while Gonzaga, which is receiving votes in the Top-25 poll, improves to 11-4.
Last season UCSB defeated a Gonzaga team that made the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Thunderdome and it seemed that the Bulldogs were bent on getting revenge in the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Gonzaga shot 50.7% from the field and buried 10 3-pointers – including eight in the first half – as the Bulldogs took a 19-3 lead barely five minutes into the game and turned it into a 53-21 halftime lead.
Chris Spencer tied her career-high with 11 points as freshman Sweets Underwood set career-highs with nine points and seven rebounds. Eleven of UCSB’s 12 players scored at least one basket as the team’s leading scorer, Emilie Johnson, was held without a bucket.
Five Gonzaga players scored in double figures, led by Courtney Vandersloot and Tiffanie Shives, each with 17 points. Vandersloot, the nation’s leader in assists, handed out 12.
The loss was the Gauchos’ largest since a 61-point defeat at Maryland on Dec. 2, 2006.
