The UC Santa Barbara women’s basketball team opened its regular season with a 101-26 blowout victory over NCAA Division 3 opponent UC Santa Cruz on Tuesday at the Thunderdome, as Noozhawk reported.
Fresh off a 65-56 exhibition upset victory at Stanford University last Wednesday, the Gauchos dominated every facet of Tuesday's game. UCSB shot 61.7 percent from the field, connected on 14-of-25 shots from three-point range, and held a 49-17 rebounding advantage over the visiting Banana Slugs. Six Gauchos finished the night scoring in double figures.
Freshman guard Sarah Heyn led UCSB in scoring with 17 points off the bench, making 6-of-8 shots overall and 4-of-6 from three-point territory, while adding four assists. Heyn, a former star at Westview High School in San Diego, earned praise from third-year head coach Renee Jimenez, who told Noozhawk that she views the freshman as a key defensive disruptor whose defensive play builds offensive confidence.
Fellow freshman recruit Karisma Flores, a four-star prospect out of Oak Park High School, added 14 points in her regular-season collegiate debut. Flores previously scored 17 points as the sole freshman to play in the exhibition win at Stanford. On Tuesday, she secured the Gauchos’ triple-digit finish by making a three-pointer and a runner in the final 56 seconds of play.
Senior forward Zoe Borter contributed 13 points in just 17 minutes of action, hitting all four of her field goal attempts, including three from beyond the arc, alongside two free throws. Borter was coming off a team-high 22-point performance in the exhibition at Stanford. Senior point guard Maddie Naro added 11 points, six assists, and four steals in 18 minutes of play.
With starting guard Zoe Shaw sidelined, transfer guard Naomy Zonzon-Huyghe stepped into the starting lineup and delivered 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, along with six rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Jimenez told the outlet that the UC Irvine transfer brings physical play and energy that the team sought through the transfer portal.
Other transfers made significant impacts in their Thunderdome debuts as well. Olivia Anderson, a 6-foot-6 senior transfer from the University of Washington, scored 13 points, grabbed four rebounds, blocked two shots, and made both of her three-point attempts. Cal State Fullerton transfer center Nicole Steiner and sophomore Chauncey Andersen led all players on the floor with seven rebounds apiece. Saint Mary’s transfer guard Mauriana Hashemian-Orr chipped in eight points, four assists, four rebounds, and two steals off the bench.
UC Santa Cruz struggled to generate offense throughout the contest, shooting 17.6 percent overall and making just 3-of-21 attempts from three-point distance while committing 23 turnovers. The Banana Slugs scored 11 of their 26 total points in the opening quarter. Their difficulties compounded when point guard Emilie Ngo, the reigning Coast to Coast Conference Player of the Year, left the game due to a shoulder injury with three minutes remaining in the first half. UC Santa Cruz was also playing without two key frontcourt players who suffered season-ending knee injuries in recent weeks.
The victory gave UCSB momentum ahead of a busy early-season schedule. The Gauchos travel to face Pepperdine on Thursday at 5 p.m. before returning to the Thunderdome on Monday for a 6 p.m. matchup against Seattle.
