UC Santa Barbara Edges CSUN 74-73

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—In a game that featured 12 ties and seven lead changes, UC Santa Barbara edged CSUN 74-73 in Big West Conference women's basketball action Thursday night at the Matadome.

With the score tied at 56 to begin the fourth quarter, Five Sarah Bates' points keyed an 8-0 UCSB run to begin the stanza. The Matadors battled back, cutting the advantage to 64-61 on a Tessa Boagni layup with 4:09 to play. UC Santa Barbara would push the lead out to six before CSUN cut the lead down to four when Boagni drove the lane at the 2:21 mark.

The Gauchos scored the next four points including a pair of Bates' free throws with 53 seconds remaining. CSUN inbounded the ball and pushed the ball down low to Channon Fluker who scored in the post six seconds later, Drew Edelman was called for a foul on the play. Fluker connected on the free throw for the old-fashioned three-point play and a five-point UCSB lead.

CSUN pressed and forced a Bates turnover. CSUN called timeout with 32 seconds to play. The Matadors went to Fluker again and she responded with a layup to create a 73-70 score at 20 seconds. CSUN again forced a turnover, this time, Hayley Tanabe came away with a steal and immediately called timeout.

The Matadors inbounded the ball and went for the tie with a Claudia Ramos' three-point attempt. Ramos' shot was no good as Edelman grabbed the rebound. Edelman was fouled by Fluker. Edelman went to the line and missed the first free throw attempt. The 6-4 center made the second with four ticks on the clock. Out of timeouts, the Matadors quickly advanced the ball to the left corner where Ramos made a three-pointer at the buzzer for the final 74-73 count.

Coming off a career high 36-point game at Cal State Fullerton Jan. 6, Boagni scored a game high 25 points. She added seven rebounds and two blocks. Fluker scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds. She also blocked two shots. Tanabe scored six points, nabbed six rebounds, and dished out a game high seven assists against no turnovers.

Bates led the Gauchos (6-9, 3-0 Big West) with 23 points. She was 5-of-7 from the three-point range as the Gauchos connected on 11-of-25 attempts from beyond the three-point arc. Sarah Porter scored 18 points while Edelman had 11 points and seven rebounds.

"It was a competitive game," said CSUN head coach Jason Flowers. "Both teams played well at times and ultimately, they made more plays down the stretch than we did. It was a style battle. Their guards played very well while our post players did the same. We had too many breakdowns, especially on the defensive end where we didn't get it done. Hats off to them, they made plays throughout. Especially in the second half. In a one-possession game, that's the difference."

CSUN (8-8, 1-1 Big West) travels to Cal Poly on Saturday for a 2 p.m. start.

~www.GoMatadors.com~

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Team Stats

Tessa Boagni

Channon Fluker

Claudia Ramos

Juliana Louis

Players Mentioned

Tessa Boagni

Channon Fluker

Claudia Ramos

Hayley Tanabe