Final Stats

Box Score

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The Pepperdine women's basketball team dropped a back and forth contest at UC Santa Barbara, falling 66-57 on the road to the Gauchos.

The Waves came back from a double-digit deficit to take a second half lead, but couldn't hang on down the stretch. Pepperdine falls to 0-2 on the year, while UCSB moves to 1-1.

The Waves trailed by five to start the second half, but went on an 11-4 run to take a 33-31 lead midway through the third quarter. The Gauchos posted their own run, outscoring Pepperdine 11-1 heading to the fourth quarter.

The Waves made several pushes down the stretch, but couldn't get the stops they needed as UCSB held on for the nine-point win.

Yasmine Robinson-Bacote (Hillside, N.J./Hillside HS) posted a double-double for the visitors, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The sophomore forward tried to spark a fourth quarter run, getting a coast-to-coast layup to make it a seven point game with four minutes left. That was as close as The Waves would come, however.

Sydney Bordonaro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Burrell HS) led the team in scoring for the second straight game, putting up 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Allie Green (Sacramento, Calif./Sacramento HS) also posted 12 points. Coco Miller led all scorers, posting 24 points for the Gauchos.

Pepperdine got off to a hot start in the first half, jumping out to a 9-5 lead on 4-of-5 shooting through the first four minutes, but UCSB answered with an 11-2 run to go up 16-11 at the quarter break. The Gauchos pushed it to a 12-point advantage in the second quarter, but the Waves scored the last seven points of the half to make it a 27-22 game at the break.

UCSB hit 6-of-16 threes in the first two quarters, but shot just 24.3 percent from the field overall. Pepperdine shot 39.1 percent, but hit just two threes.

For the game, the Waves shot 38.3 percent and 72.7 percent from the free throw line. Pepperdine hit three 3-pointers on the day, to eight for UCSB. The Gauchos finished the game shooting 31.8 percent.

Both of Pepperdine's first two opponents were picked to finish in the top four of the Big West, with Long Beach State selected to win the conference and UCSB picked fourth.

The Waves will be back in action next Sunday, when they host Nevada for a 1 p.m. game in Firestone Fieldhouse. That game can be seen live on TheW.tv.