Second Half Comeback Effort Not Enough as Dartmouth Falls to UCSB, 62-56

Sunday, November 25

Las Vegas, Nev.

3:00 PM

Dartmouth College

2-2

UC Santa Barbara

1-5

Dartmouth

UC Santa Barbara

Photo by: Doug Austin

Second Half Comeback Effort Not Enough as Dartmouth Falls to UCSB, 62-56

11/25/2018 6:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

The Big Green cut a 21 point deficit to four, but fell short in a close game to finish Vegas trip

By: Mike Miezejeski

LAS VEGAS – Dartmouth roared back with a second half comeback attempt, erasing a 21-point deficit, but eventually fell to UC Santa Barbara, 62-56, Sunday at the Cox Pavilion. Isalys Quinones led the way with 20 points and six rebounds, while Cy Lippold finished with six points, eight assists and four steals. Asha Taylor scored eight points off the bench, knocking down two triples and Annie McKenna came away with seven points for the Big Green.

The Big Green forced 25 Gaucho turnovers on the day. Dartmouth falls to 2-2 on the season, while UCSB picks up its first win of the year, improving to 1-5.

"We challenged the team at halftime to start doing all the little things better and come out with fire and passion in the second," said Belle Koclanes, the Gail Koziara Boudreaux '82 and Family Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "We learned a press on the fly and that is what helped us fight back to give us an opportunity to win the game and we were able to do that. We are out here to practice and get better, shout out to Asha, she had a fantastic game for us and Ice and Cy led us." Koclanes continued

Dartmouth had trouble finding its shooting stroke in each of the first two quarters. The Gauchos struck first with a triple and Quinones had a quick answer with a long ball of her own to tie the game at three over the first two minutes. After UCSB went on a 6-0 run with all its buckets coming in the paint, Kealy Brown knocked down a triple to make it a 9-6 deficit with 5:52 rest in the first. Both teams then traded buckets with Quinones and McKenna making shots for Dartmouth. UCSB finished the first on a 6-0 run to extend its lead to 20-10 at the end of one.

Brown, Quinones and Jimena Abejon were responsible for the first eight points of the second quarter as the Big Green pulled the score to 26-18 with just over three minutes remaining. UCSB closed the half on an 8-2 run to take a 34-20 lead at the break.

Scoring was tough to come by in the early going of the third quarter, Lippold started it with a layup to cut the deficit to 12. UCSB followed with a 9-0 run to extend its lead to 43-22 with 5:51 on the clock in the third. The offense woke up midway through the quarter. Quinones had seven points in a two-minute stretch mixed in with a McKenna three to bring the score to 47-32 UCSB with 2:32 to go in the third. Dartmouth closed the quarter on an 11-6 run to make it a 10-point game heading to the fourth.

It was a defensive struggle in the early going of the final quarter. Emily Dryden made a layup to begin the fourth and neither team would score again until UCSB made a free throw with 4:47 remaining. Dartmouth then went on a 7-2 run that was capped off by a three from Asha Taylor to close the gap to 56-52 with 1:32 left. Paula Lenart cut it to four with under a minute left, but that was as close as the Big Green would come as both sides traded free throws until the final buzzer.

Dartmouth will now travel to Cal State Fullerton to take on the Titans on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET at the Titan Gym.