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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Stacy Clinesmith's extraordinary game was all
part of the routine for UC Santa Barbara.
Clinesmith scored a career-high 36 points and ninth-ranked UC
Santa Barbara rolled past Long Beach State 79-69 on Saturday to win
its fourth straight Big West Conference tournament title and the
NCAA tournament berth that goes with it.
|  | | UCSB's Stacy Clinesmith, center, holds the Big West tournament trophy. |
The Gauchos (30-3) extended the nation's longest winning streak
to 26 games while reaching the 30-victory mark for the first time
in the program's 28-year history.
"It's a good cap to a good career, not that it's over yet,"
said Clinesmith, a senior.
The Gauchos are hoping for a lot more.
"Yes, this is exciting but we still have a lot to accomplish.
This is just a step," said the Gauchos' Kristi Rohr.
It was Santa Barbara's 51st consecutive win against a Big West
opponent and sent the Gauchos to the NCAA tournament for the sixth
time since 1992. Santa Barbara has yet to advance beyond the second
round, but is hopeful of gaining at least a No. 4 seed so it can
open at home by hosting a subregional.
"I'd be very disappointed now if we didn't get to host," Santa
Barbara coach Mark French said. "This particular year, I think
we're up there with anybody on the West Coast.
"We need to make some noise in the NCAA tournament to go to the
next level. But we're 16-0 at home and you don't have to be a brain
surgeon to know that playing your first two games there would be to
your advantage."
Clinesmith, the tournament MVP, went 10-for-17 from the floor,
made nine of 10 free throws and made a tournament-record seven
3-pointers in matching the second-highest single game scoring mark
in Gauchos history.
Rohr added 11 points and Jess Hansen 10 for Santa Barbara, which
registered its 15th straight win over Long Beach State.
Kesha Wade's 16 points led Long Beach State (20-10). Rhonda
Smith added 15 points and Crystal Givens 10.
"In the first half, we didn't play our best basketball, but
that's the No. 9 team in the country," Long Beach State coach
Dallas Boychuk-Bolla said. "Their 2-3 zone shouldn't bother us but
it did. We practice against it and we see it a lot because of our
inside game but we just didn't execute."
Clinesmith scored 22 of her points in the first half, hitting
four 3-pointers to help the Gauchos take a 44-32 lead.
She also was at the center of a Gauchos' transition game fueling
a 23-8 run that changed the course of the game.
With Clinesmith leading one fastbreak after another, the Gauchos
turned a 15-11 deficit into a 37-23 advantage punctuated at the
finish by a 3-pointer by Clinesmith with 2:40 left in the first
half.
She jump-started the flurry with consecutive fastbreak layups,
and accounted for 14 points in the barrage.
Then, when Long Beach State cut the deficit to 10 points on
consecutive baskets by Charel Bailey and Chelsea Cooper, Clinesmith
connected on her fourth 3-pointer and pulled up for a 15-foot
jumper around Givens' turnaround jumper to build the Gauchos' lead
back to 12 by halftime.
Santa Barbara ran off 10 straight points to start the second
half, beginning with a driving layup by Erin Buescher off a feed
from Clinesmith. Nicole Greathouse and Clinesmith added 3-pointers
and Buescher had another layup as Santa Barbara's lead swelled to
54-32.
The 49ers fought to get back in the game, running off 13
straight to close to 54-45 but Clinesmith again got the Gauchos on
track. Ending Santa Barbara's nearly four-minute scoring drought,
she made a pair of free throws and hit another 3-pointer, taking
the steam out of the 49ers' rally as the Gauchos maintained a
double-digit lead the rest of the way.
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ALSO SEE
Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
Long Beach State Clubhouse
Santa Barbara Clubhouse
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