12-7, 8-0
UC Santa Barbara
10-9, 4-3
Clancy, Griffin Lead Cal Poly Past UCSB
1/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – A running jumper by senior Rachel Clancy in the lane put the Mustangs up three with 15 seconds left and the Gaucho attempt to tie rimmed out at the buzzer giving Cal Poly its first win in Santa Barbara since the 2006-07 season. The 54-51 win was the team's second win in three games over the Gauchos with Cal Poly winning at home last season. With the win Cal Poly remains perfect in Big West play with an 8-0 record and improves to 12-8 overall. UCSB falls to 10-9 overall and 4-3 in conference games.
The eight game winning streak ties the 2006-07 squad for consecutive wins since the team moved to Division I in 1994-95 season.
Sophomore Kayla Griffin and Clancy led the team with 15 points each while redshirt freshman Jonae Ervin came off the bench to add nine. True freshman Molly Schlemer led the team with eight boards.
UCSB was led by Emilie Johnson with 17 points with Mekia Valentine grabbing 14 rebounds.
Cal Poly shot 43 percent from the floor and connected on five of 10 long range while UCSB shot 35 percent of its floor shots and made just three of 13 three pointers.
UCSB held a one rebound advantage (36-35) but committed three more turnovers, 13-10.
The Gauchos opened the game with a 6-0 lead before the Mustangs went on a 9-1 run capped by a layup by senior Tamara Wells at 9:57.
UCSB responded with a mini-run of its own and took an 18-13 led on a layup by Nicole Nesbit with 5:58 left in the half.
The Mustangs battled back and took the lead, 24-23, on a layup by Schlemer and made it a four point lead at the half (27-23) when Ashlee Burns hit a three with two seconds remaining.
A jumper by Clancy to open the second half gave Cal Poly a six point lead when UCSB went on a 13-0 run and a 36-29 lead with 13:04 on a layup by Valentine.
Cal Poly tied the game at 40-40 on a jump shot by Abby Bloetscher with 8:31 left.
UCSB would take its final lead at 49-48 on a jumper by Johnson with 3:05 left, but Clancy would hit a clutch three from the right side to put the Mustangs up two with 2:44 left. Ervin made it a three point game when she hit the front end of a one and one at 1:56.
UCSB cut the lead to one (52-51) when Johnson came up big once again with a clutch shot in the lane, but it would by Clancy's heroics with 15 seconds left to put the game away.
The Mustangs remain on the road and return to the court on Feb. 3 when the team travels to UC Davis for a Big West Conference game at 7 pm.
