Strong CSUN Defense Leads Matadors To 48-30 Victory Over UC Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—CSUN held UC Santa Barbara to 20.8% shooting for the game as the Matadors defeated the Gauchos 48-30 in Big West Conference women's basketball action Thursday night.

Four turnovers and two missed field goal attempts on the first six CSUN possessions resulted in a 4-0 start for the Gauchos. The Matadors' defense forced UC Santa Barbara to miss six of its first eight shots as CSUN cut it to 4-3 at the first quarter media timeout. A pair of field goals from Channon Fluker and Juiliana Louis out of the media timeout put CSUN up by three. The Gauchos missed their final 10 shots of the first quarter as the Matadors would take a 9-4 lead after 10 minutes of play.

Claudia Ramos connected on a three-pointer 1:19 into the second that resulted in a UCSB timeout, trailing by eight. Down 10 after missing 12 consecutive field goal attempts, Aliceah Hernandez broke the drought for the Gauchos with a basket at the 6:49 mark of the second. 29 seconds later, Nina Radford cut the CSUN lead in half with a three-pointer. The Matadors' second straight turnover led to a Makala Roper layup and a two-point CSUN lead. Ramos responded with her second three on the ensuing possession. The teams combined for nine points over the final 5:13 of the first half as CSUN took a 22-13 lead into the break.

The CSUN defense limited the Gauchos to 1-of-7 shooting to begin the third period. Field goals from Fluker and Terrin Sullivan pushed the Matadors' lead back to 10, 26-16, as UCSB called timeout with 4:54 to go in the third. Sarah Bates broke a 5+ minute scoring drought at the 3:55 mark to reduce the CSUN lead to eight. Fluker responded with a layup on the ensuing Matador possession. Chaya Durr sank a pair of free throws with just under two to play in the third to get the lead back into single digits at 28-19. Bates' fast break layup a little over a minute later further reduced the advantage. The score would remain 28-21 after 30 minutes.

Hayley Tanabe opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer for the Matadors. Tal Sahal responded with a three-pointer of her own for the Gauchos. The teams traded stops before Fluker was fouled. The 6-4 center made both of her free throw attempts for a 33-24 score. UCSB scored on their next two possessions to make it 33-28. The Matadors went to Fluker down low. She drew the foul and hit two more free throws.

The score stayed at 35-28 until there was 5:10 on the clock. Fluker found Tessa Boagni in the paint for a layup and a nine-point lead. UCSB called timeout to regroup. A Sarah Porter basket at 4:34 was the only score in a two-minute span for either team. Fluker's jumper from the free throw line at 1:55 pushed the lead back to nine for the Matadors. UCSB called their final timeout with 1:39 to play with possession under the basket. CSUN forced a turnover. The Gauchos forced a Matadors' timeout with a full-court press underneath the CSUN goal.

Under the limit, UCSB fouled twice before sending Claudia Ramos to the charity stripe. The 6-0 native of Mexico connected on both attempts to make it 41-30. Bates missed from three-point range. Fluker was fouled on the rebound. She again made both to put CSUN up by 13. Meghan Henderson came up with a steal. She passed the ball to Boagni who hit both. Bates was short from long range. Ramos pulled in the rebound, was fouled, and sank both free throw attempts. With 22 seconds remaining, Fluker grabbed a UCSB miss and was fouled. She went 1-of-2 from the line for the final point of the game. The final 11 points of the game for the Matadors would come from the free throw line (11-of-12). CSUN would make 15-of-18 from the free throw line for the game, compared to 1-of-7 for the Gauchos.

The Gauchos were successful on 13-of-64 field goal attempts, 3-of-29 from three-point range. CSUN was limited to 27.8% shooting (15-of-54) for the game, 13% (3-of-23) from beyond the three-point arc. The Matadors outrebounded the Gauchos 52-42 and scored 13 points off of 13 UCSB turnovers.

"We have gotten better since we went to the zone (defense) a couple of weeks ago," said CSUN head coach Jason Flowers. "Tonight, we were able to continue to make adjustments as the game went on and we ended up doing a good job tonight."

Fluker recorded her 46th career double-double as she led all scorers with 15 points. She also led all players with 12 rebounds. Ramos had 10. No UC Santa Barbara (7-13, 4-4 Big West) player scored more than five points (Tal Sahar). Durr charted 10 rebounds.

The Matadors (12-10, 5-3 Big West) return home Saturday to host league leader UC Davis (17-3, 7-0 Big West). Coverage on The CSUN Sports Network begins at 3:55 p.m. with Kevin Strauss' pregame show. Tip is set for 4 p.m.

~www.GoMatadors.com~

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Team Stats

Channon Fluker

Claudia Ramos

Hayley Tanabe

Tessa Boagni

Players Mentioned

Tessa Boagni

Channon Fluker

Claudia Ramos

Terrin Sullivan

Hayley Tanabe