BATON ROUGE, La. – UCSB (1-9) opened its three-game road swing with a 68-50 loss against LSU (6-4) in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Sunday afternoon.
Jasmine Ware led the Gauchos with 10 points, making it the second consecutive game in which she has been UCSB’s leading scorer after she previously netted 18 versus Loyola Marymount. Onome Jemerigbe finished the game with nine points, as she also paced UCSB with three assists.
Je Zhé Newton finished her second game of the season with seven points (3-6) and a team-best seven rebounds through 21 minutes of play.
Overall, the Gauchos shot 34 percent from the field, while going 5-19 (26.3%) from three-point range. Meanwhile, LSU’s offense finished the second half in making more than half their shots, as their shooting clip for the game was 47.5 percent.
UCSB led through most of the first quarter, as they held the Lady Tigers to just two points through the first four minutes. Chaya Durr registered the first Gaucho basket with a baseline jumper and Newton followed her with a three-point play off an inbounds pass.
LSU then went on an 8-2 run to take its first lead since the opening minute, but Coco Miller answered back with the game-tying triple with 58 seconds left in the period. However, the Lady Tigers ended the first quarter on a 4-0 run, highlighted by a steal-and-score from Jenna Deemer as time expired.
Santa Barbara fought its way back to another tie score at the 5:21 mark in the second quarter thanks in part to five straight points from Jemerigbe. The point guard first drained in a three-pointer from the top of the key and later knocked down a jumper following a Kali Jones steal.
After Ware picked up a steal off Akila Bethel, Makala Roper earned a trip to the free throw line where she made both shots to tie the score at 20-20. As a team, UCSB went 9-12 at the charity stripe.
LSU was able to respond quickly with a 10-2 run to close out the half, as Bethel scored six of those points. Overall, the forward finished with a game-high 18 points while also adding nine rebounds and five assists.
The Lady Tigers continued with that momentum in opening the third quarter, as they outscored UCSB 14-3 by the 2:31 mark. Kali Jones put in those three points for the Gauchos, and she also got them back on the board with a free throw that opened an 8-4 run before the period ended.
UCSB entered the final quarter down 48-33 and remained behind by double figures, as LSU was able to seal the 68-50 decision.
