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California State University at Bakersfield Athletics

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Kayla_Morris_DD_1
David Dennis / All-Star Sports Photography
62
CSU Bakersfield CSUB 4-9,1-4 Big West
63
Winner UC Santa Barbara UCSB 10-4,3-1 Big West
CSU Bakersfield CSUB
4-9,1-4 Big West
62
Final
63
UC Santa Barbara UCSB
10-4,3-1 Big West
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
CSU Bakersfield CSUB 11 14 14 23 62
UC Santa Barbara UCSB 16 16 8 23 63

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Written by James Tsitakis-Cecil

CSUB Fall to UCSB on Five Last-Second Free Throws

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Cal State Bakersfield women's basketball team will go on a dual-game road trip with games against the 4th and 5th placed teams in the Big West, UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego. While the Gauchos got off to a strong lead through the first half, the Roadrunners responded in kind, taking the lead through most of the fourth quarter until foul trouble allowed UCSB to sink the winning free throws in the dying seconds of the game to seal a 63-62 victory.

Notables
  • Coming into the game, UC Santa Barbara boasted two of the top-10 scorers in the Big West, including star player Ila Lane who was a big reason why the Gauchos got off to a seven point first half lead, putting up 10 points and 8 rebounds in the first two quarters.
  • Despite UCSB having some of the best three-point shooters in the conference, the `Runner defense was on display as usual, holding the Gauchos to 31.5% from the field and 29.4% from the perimeter.
  • With Hennie van Schaik out for a second straight game, the `Runners started the contest with shooting issues again, but Grace Hunter and Kayla Morris stepped up to try and fill the scoring role. In total, the bench provided a massive boost to the effort, tallying 40 of the team's 62 points.
  • Foul trouble came back to bite CSUB. With two players dangerously close to fouling out and 20 team personals, a three point foul gave UCSB the free throws to tie the game before a crucial personal foul with 0.8 seconds remaining while in the bonus allowed UCSB to take the result.
  • There were definitely positives to take from the result. CSUB had a stalwart second-half defense but turned on the offensive jets as well. Racking up the most points since their overtime win against Omaha way back on Dec. 4, the `Runners stepped up to the challenge of the Big West's 4th placed team.
Next on the Schedule First Half
  • In what has become an unfortunate trend, CSUB was not able to get on the scoreboard for a few minutes to start the game.By the game's first media timeout, six of UCSB's first eight points were converted via free throws, as both teams were shooting well under 20%, leading to a slow crawl of a beginning.
  • Towards the end of the first period, Bakersfield began answering back with points of their own, but Santa Barbara seemed to score at the same pace, which continued into the second quarter. 
  • The Gauchos began hitting on more of their shot attempts, going on a 7-0 run that saw them lead 25-14 by the second media timeout.
  • The `Runners were able to begin chipping away at the lead towards the latter part of the second quarter, lowering the deficit to single digits a few times. UCSB ended the half up 32-25 over CSUB.
  • Shooting accuracy issues were prevalent again, with Bakersfield scoring on 30% of its shots and 18% of three-pointers. Grace Hunter scored nearly half of CSUB's first half points, tallying 11 points and 4 rebounds along with a perfect 4-of-4 free throws.
Second Half
  • CSUB started the second half hot and on the right foot, keeping Santa Barbara off the scoreboard for the first six minutes, while turning over the Gauchos plenty of times and narrowing the deficit to just a single point.
  • With a couple strong efforts in the paint on each side of the court, and a much needed three pointer from Sophia Tougas, the `Runners were able to take their first lead of the night with under two minutes remaining in the third quarter.
  • UC Santa Barbara shot just 7%, in part due to a pressing and aggressive `Runners defense that shut the Gauchos down on all but one field goal opportunity. Despite this, the Gauchos were able to regain a narrow 40-39 lead heading into the final quarter.
  • Bakersfield enacted a full-court press nearly every time that UCSB took the lead in the fourth quarter, which led to Gaucho turnovers and pivotal fast break points for the `Runners.
  • CSUB held onto the lead for the final few minutes of the second half, with UCSB sending the `Runners to the charity stripe in the dying seconds to make a desperate attempt at the comeback.
  • CSUB fouled a Santa Barbara three-point attempt to send the Gauchos to free throws with four seconds remaining. After all three of those were converted, the game was tied before one final foul with under a second remaining sealed the deal for the Gauchos.
~GoRunners.com~
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