All that work for nothing.
The UCSB women’s basketball team climbed all the way back from a 17-2 deficit against UC Davis on Saturday to tie things up at 43-43 with 8:38 left, but a bunch of big 3-pointers weren’t enough to overcome 27 turnovers as the Gauchos fell flat in the final minutes, losing 62-54.
“It’s heartbreaking, because we were right there,” said Ariana Gnekow, who had a career-high 12 points to go along with three steals, six rebounds and four assists.
Ariana Gnekow had a career-high 12 points in Saturday’s loss.
She hit a trey that brought the Gauchos to within two at 48-46 with 4:40 remaining, but UC Davis fired right back with a swish from beyond the arc by Kasey Riecks. Gnekow promptly buried another one to cut it to two again. The Aggies would then go on a 7-0 run aided by a missed lay-up, two turnovers and two offensive reabounds given up by the Gauchos.
UC Davis remains a half-game behind Cal Poly for first place in the Big West at 7-2 (15-7 overall), while the Gauchos are tied for fourth with Fullerton at 8-14, 5-5.
The last time the two teams met up in Davis, the game was tied with three minutes to go before David pulled out a 54-49. The Gauchos dominated the boards in that game 46-19, but were out-rebounded 34-32 on Saturday. Also, the 27 turnovers led to 21 Davis points.
“It’s gonna be sickening to watch the film, but in some ways I think it’s going to be really useful, with the message being that it can often come down to possessions,” said coach Lindsay Gottlieb. “On the positive side, there haven’t been too many games that we’ve lost that haven’t come down to a critical two-to-three minute stretch or three or four possessions.
“I think it comes down to understanding how to make those go in our favor and not just hoping they go in our favor.”
UCSB started intentionally fouling with a minute left and the Aggies missed five consecutive free throws from that point forward. The Gauchos got a jumper from Chris Spencer and a pull-up triple from Emilie Johnson, but committed three costly turnovers in the final minute.
Johnson was stellar from beyond the arc, making five of eight attempts and finishing with 17 points and five steals. Spencer tied her career high with 14 points and made a pair of 3-pointer to go with six boards. The Gauchos went 7-for-10 from long range in the second half.
Spencer said that fatigue at the end of the game might have been a factor, as five players were in for 30 minutes or more.
“When you get tired you stop talking, and especially I think when we were trying to go into a zone-trap type thing you need to talk and over-communicate. We were under-communicating, and that’s not going to win us games,” she said.
The Gauchos play at UC Riverside on Thursday.
