A Special Night for The Anteater Leaves the Gauchos Heart
Broken
STEVEN WILSON
News-Press Correspondent
IRVINE, CALIF.- It was an
impressive performance for the 5-foot-9 UC Irvine senior guard playing in her
last game in an Anteater uniform at home. Kassandra McCalister contributed half
of her team’s 72 points, leaving UCSB heartbroken after a 72-65 defeat in Big
West play.
“I think she is playing the best
basketball of her career this year,” McCalister’s coach Molly Goodenbour said.
“It had to be one of her best games because it came right after one of her
worst.”
UCSB tried everything in their
playbook to stop McCalister – who had a game- and career-high 36 points –
including a tall wrinkle. Gaucho center Kirsten Tilleman, who has played with
McCalister before when they both attended Oregon State, was matched up
one-on-one with the point guard at the top of the key to try to slow her down.
“I asked who wanted to guard her at
halftime and Tilleman said she wanted to – actually, she demanded it,” UCSB
coach Carlene Mitchell said. “She actually did an amazing job, but that made us
give up other things, like rebounding.”
With their team-leading rebounder
15 feet away from the hoop, UCSB gave up 11 offensive rebounds to the Anteaters
and UCI had 10 second chance points by halftime.
UCSB still had its chance to win.
After battling through a
double-digit deficit for most of the second half, Tilleman finally netted a
layup after two failed attempts to pull within one, 55-54 with 6:35 left in the
game. Nine seconds later UCI responded.
Methlyn Onogomuho converted a
fast-break layup to go back up by three. Tilleman would make one-of-two free
throws on the next possession, and a minute later, Sweets Underwood made a
layup to tie the game at 57. UCSB earned its first lead in the second half and
its first lead since the 12:26 mark in the first half with a free throw from
Angelei Aguirre.
UCSB did not hold on to it.
Ten seconds after gaining the lead,
UCSB let it go, to no other than McCalister. She hit a 3-pointer to start a
12-0 run for the Anteaters. They would not relinquish the lead as they held on
for the 72-65 victory.
“We just have nights when things
work for you,” Goodenbour said. “The game is a lot easier when you make
baskets. We didn’t do anything different, they just went in.”
A loss didn’t seem possible with
the way UCSB started the game. The Gauchos had their quickest start in recent
memory as they took a 12-7 lead in the first eight minutes thanks to two 3s
from Kelsey Adrian.
Then everything fell apart.
UCI went on an 8-0 run and by
halftime McCalister had 21 points – exactly how many she had in the entire game
when these teams faced in January.
“When she got started, it was
done,” Mitchell said. “We tried different defenses to get her off balance, or
to not let her get touches, but you can’t win when someone’s making that many
free throws and they’re converting your turnovers (into points).”
Overall, UCI had 27 points off the
Gauchos’ 18 turnovers, and the Anteaters made 20-of-26 free throws in the game,
including 15 from McCalister.
Despite shooting over 40 percent
from the field in the game, UCSB goes home disappointed. The Gauchos fall to
11-14 overall and 5-7 in the Big West.
Tilleman led all Gauchos with 16
points, and nine rebounds. Underwood added 10 points and Aguirre had seven.
Emilie Johnson, who only managed 16 minutes in the game finished with five
points, but has six assists.
“I
went with the team that was clicking,” Mitchell said of Johnson’s absence in
the second half.
In the end, the Anteater guards
proved to be too much for UCSB to handle once again. In their first meeting,
Anete Klintsone and McCalister combined for 27 points. On Saturday, they had
50.
UCSB will leave Irvine to play a
two-game home stretch on Thursday and Saturday. Coach Mitchell hopes her
players can bounce back.
“I told them, ‘It would be real
easy to just hang it up now,’” she said. “They looked at me like I was crazy.
They want to continue to fight.”
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