Cold shooting dooms Aggie women in Big West basketball loss to UC Santa Barbara
Visitors control the tempo down the stretch to leave town with a 55-47 win
There are nights when the basketball simply refuses to go through the hoop.
The UC Davis women experienced just such a nightmare on Thursday evening when no matter which basket they were aiming at in the University Credit Union Center, the shots were not falling.
The result was a disappointing 55-47 Big West Conference loss to UC Santa Barbara that knocked the Aggies from the league’s unbeaten list.
UCD is now 3-1 in the Big West and 10-5 overall, while the Gauchos are 12-2 and 4-1.
The Aggies shot just 29.2 percent from the field and a dismal 14.6 percent from long range, never scoring more than 13 points in any one quarter.
It wasn’t for a lack of effort as the Aggies had a strong defensive night in holding their talented visitors to just 55 points.
Generally, when your opponent hits just 34.4 percent from the field and only 3 for 22 behind the arc, as UCSB did, that’s a game you are likely to win.
Not on this night.
The Aggies got off to a great start, taking an 11-7 lead thanks to five quick points from Nya Epps, but UCSB went on a 12-2 run to take a 19-13 lead and never looked back.
The Gauchos led, 29-24, at half and quickly raced away to a 36-27 advantage.
The Aggies rallied, cutting the deficit to 40-37 on a trey from Avery Sussex to open the fourth quarter, but the Gauchos dominated down the stretch, enjoying their biggest lead of the evening at 55-43 in the final minute.
“That’s a great win for us against a very good team,” enthused UCSB head coach Renee Jimenez.
“Neither team shot the ball very well and we had to really grind it out, but we finally were able to control the tempo a little bit and our rebounding at the end made the difference.”
Megan Norris led the Aggies with 12 points, 18 rebounds and a pair of blocks, while Ryann Bennett finished with 11 points.
UCD remains home Saturday for a 2 p.m. Big West battle with Cal Poly.
In other Big West women’s action Thursday night, Cal State Northridge dropped Cal Poly, 77-68, UC Irvine routed Long Beach State, 78-59, UC Riverside beat Cal State Bakersfield, 64-42, and UC San Diego went into overtime before stopping Cal State Fullerton, 81-69.
18 rebounds is impressive!