STOCKTON — UCSB rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half to knock off Big West Conference-leading Pacific, 52-47, at the Tigers’ Alex G. Spanos Center on
Saturday evening.
Trailing by 13 points at 36-23 with 13:51 to go in the game, junior Nicole Nesbit went on a
four-point run to put the Gauchos within nine at 36-27.
UCSB continued to chip away, and a layup by junior Melissa Zornig began a 13-0 run – fueled by
six points from senior Sweets Underwood – which gave UCSB its first lead of the
game at 46-42 with 2:36 to go.
A third-chance layup by Ashley Smith put the Tigers back within two and after a timeout,
Kendall Rodriguez hit a 3-pointer to regain the lead for the home team at 47-46 to with 59 ticks
left on the clock.
Underwood was able to draw a foul on the offensive end and calmly sank her first free-throw
to tie the game. Pacific called a timeout, but the break didn’t rattle the senior as she swiftly
downed her second try to put the Gauchos back on top.
Ashley Wakefield missed the layup that could have captured the lead for the Tigers with 23 seconds to go and Underwood was there to grab her career-high 16th rebound of the game.
Nesbit was fouled after the Gauchos put the ball into play and the junior calmly downed her fifth and sixth attempts from the charity stripe to put UCSB up 50-47.
Kendall Rodriguez put up a three-point attempt with seven seconds to go that was quickly swatted away by Kirsten Tilleman.
“We knew exactly what play they were going to run,” UCSB coach Carlene Mitchell said. “They
ran that exact play last-second against Cal Poly. I’ve never watched film on game day and we
watched it this morning. We showed the team that play and we knew they were going to run
it, so we were there.”
Nesbit once again was fouled and finished her perfect day at the line, sealing the 52-47 victory.
UCSB started off slow in the game’s opening minutes, as it failed to make its first seven shots.
The Tigers were able to grab the early lead behind an 8-0 run, but UCSB quickly countered
with a 7-0 run of its own, fueled by five points from Zornig to make it a one-point game with
14:12 on the clock.
As quickly as they got hot, the Gauchos went cold again and Pacific went on a 10-0 run over a
5:31 period to gain its biggest lead of the game at the halfway point. That lead was pushed to
13 points when Kendall Kenyon hit a jumper with 4:05 to play to put the Tigers up, 24-11.
UCSB was able to end the half with a 7-2 run to trail, 26-18, heading into the locker rooms.
Zornig led all players with 10 of her game-high 18 points in the first half. The Gauchos
struggled as a collective unit in the first stanza, hitting just 6-of-26 shots (23.1%) from the
field while Pacific made 11-of-28 shots (39.3%) and had six steals.
The second half saw UCSB hit 10-of-25 attempts (40%) as it ended the game shooting 31.4%.
The Gauchos went 4-for-6 (66.7%) from the three-point range and made 16-of-17 (94.1%)
attempts from the charity stripe.
“Playing on the road you can face a lot of diversity,” Mitchell said. “I think our kids were
backed into a corner and they came out fighting. It was obvious, when we saw the turn in
their body language, that they were going to refuse to lose.”
The Gauchos were able to out-rebound the Tigers, 39-36, led by Underwood’s career-high,
12 of which came in the second half. After turning the ball over 10 times in the first, UCSB
had just three turnovers in the second.
Underwood finished the game with her ninth double-double of the year and second straight
after putting up 14 points to go with her 16 boards. Nesbit finished with 13 points. Tilleman,
meanwhile, had eight boards, six points, three assists and a career-high-tying four steals.
The Tigers were led by Kendall Rodriguez’s 10 points and Kendall Kenyon finished with a
team-high 11 boards.
The win improves the Gauchos’ record to 11-12 overall and 7-4 in Big West games. The
Tigers, meanwhile, fall to 18-5 and 8-3 in league.
After opening the season 8-0 at home, Pacific has dropped two straight at Alex G. Spanos
Center. UCSB, on the other hand, has won its last four straight on the road.
This marks the Gauchos’ second come-from-behind win. Its first was at Hawai’i on Jan. 26.
UCSB will return home to host Blue-Green rival Cal Poly on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. in the
Thunderdome. The contest will serve as the Gauchos’ annual Play 4Kay game, which is held to
help raise breast cancer awareness. Each UCSB women’s basketball player will decorate and
wear a special pink warm-up shirt that will be available for purchase through a silent auction
with the proceeds going towards cancer research.
Additionally, pink pom-poms will be given away at the door and 10% of all ShopUCSBgauchos.com purchases will go to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
