Wahine basketball team loses on a buzzer-beater

The difference between six wins in a row and four straight losses was exemplified by the margin of the game-winning shot unleashed by UC Santa Barbara’s Danae Miller on Wednesday night.

There were about 0.2 seconds left on the clock when she got the ball off her fingertips for her 14-footer from the right baseline over the outstretched hand of Jadynn Alexander, Hawaii’s best wing defender, for a 57-56 Gauchos victory.

“To have them hit that kind of shot, that hurts,” coach Laura Beeman said. “There’s a lot of things between that that we let happen that affected us. You don’t want to be in those positions against a team that’s pretty hot, and they were.”

UCSB (14-15, 9-7 Big West) closed its regular season having won five of six and took over second place in the Big West. UH (14-14, 8-7) dropped its fourth game in a row and fell into a tie for third with Cal State Fullerton with one to play before the conference tournament.

The Rainbow Wahine, who were flying high and scoring points in bunches from mid-January through most of February, have stalled out and are in danger of having to win four games in five days to capture the tournament title.

They resolved to end the swoon on senior night Saturday against Cal Poly (9-17, 6-9). A win would keep them in the top four and allot a bye to the second round.

“We all love our seniors and of course we all want to send them off on the right note,” forward Amy Atwell said. “And more importantly than that, we need to get back on the winning track before we go into tournament time.”

“It’s not about seedings anymore,” Beeman said. “It’s about being confident and being able to figure out how to generate a win.”

Julissa Tago scored 15 points, bringing her within nine of becoming the program’s 22nd 1,000-point scorer. Atwell also had 15 points, on 7-for-9 shooting. She helped rally the Wahine from down 10 points with 8:40 left.

UH outdid UCSB in the endgame of a 63-51 win at the Thunderdome on Feb. 8. Despite being largely shut down in their preferred perimeter game, the Wahine appeared poised to rally for another tight win when Tago hit two free throws for a 56-55 lead with 9.4 seconds left, their first lead of the fourth quarter.

UCSB called timeout to advance the ball. After UH took two fouls to drain some clock, UCSB had 4.1 seconds left.

With Gauchos players stacked to the left of the hoop, Miller, a 5-foot-7 junior, dribbled from the top of the key to open space on the right baseline and put up a fadeaway over Alexander.

After a brief officials’ review, it was upheld as good.

“With four seconds left, it wasn’t really much to draw up at that time,” said Miller, who scored nine on 4-for-14 shooting. “It was just what we needed to do. Be tough to make that play, and that’s what I came out to do.”

Gauchos freshman center Ila Lane, the leading rebounder in the country entering the night at 13.3 per game, tied for a season low with five caroms. Yet her post play was dominant as she led UCSB with 20 points on 10-for-14 shooting. Guard Coco Miller added 15 points for the visitors.

The Wahine briefly captured the lead on a layup by center Lauren Rewers early in the third quarter. The Gauchos snatched it back and Coco Miller closed the period strong to give the visitors a 45-37 lead heading to the fourth.

UH hit eight 3s to tally 215 for the season, breaking the program record of 208 set last season.