LOS ANGELES – A tough shooting night doomed the UCSB women’s basketball team on Tuesday as the Gauchos, again, played terrific defense but could not get many shots to fall.
UCSB shot just 25.4 percent on the evening and fell to USC, 50-39 at the Galen Center. It was the third straight defeat for UCSB, which falls to 8-12. USC snapped a three-game skid and improved to 11-9.
The Gauchos went nearly seven and-a-half minutes without scoring a point at the start of the second half as USC used an 11-0 run to open the half, pushing a six-point halftime lead to double digits.
Santa Barbara’s first point of the second half came on a free throw from Emilie Johnson but the Gauchos’ first basket of the half didn’t come until 8:39 remained in the game. Johnson’s jumper in the lane cut into USC’s lead at 36-18. By then the Trojans’ lead was too much to overcome.
Although the Gauchos tried to cut into it.
After not being able to make a bucket, UCSB made eight of its next 11 shots and cut the USC lead to single digits in the final minute. However, free throws by the Trojans down the stretch kept UCSB at bay.
Otherwise, the Gauchos played well. UCSB held USC to nearly 15 points below its average, committed just 10 turnovers and the Gauchos held their own on the boards against a longer and taller USC team, 43-41.
UCSB hosts Cal Poly on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Thunderdome as Erin Alexander will be inducted as the next Legend of the ‘Dome.
