Nov. 17, 2003
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Two squads that pride themselves on defense delivered just that Monday night as the 18th-ranked UC Santa Barbara women's basketball team outlasted No. 19 Utah 52-44 in a Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament Second Round game in the Thunderdome.
Despite shooting just 38.3% from the floor, the Gauchos improved to 2-0 on the young season and advanced to the WNIT Semifinals at seventh-ranked Texas Tech on Thursday, Nov. 20. It will be a rematch of a second round NCAA Tournament contest earlier this year won by the Lady Raiders 72-68. Meanwhile Utah shot an even-more-forgettable 33.3% and was eliminated from the 16-team tournament holding a 1-1 record in 2003-04.
Although the Utes missed their first 13 three-point attempts, the largest first-half lead UCSB could amass was 12-4 following back-to-back layups by juniors Mia Fisher and Kristen Mann. With 2:17 remaining in the opening period Shona Thorburn broke Utah's streak of futility from beyond the arc with a triple that cut Santa Barbara's lead to 19-16, however her squad would not score again before the break. Senior guard April McDivitt found Fisher on a fast-break layup with eight seconds on the clock to give the home team a 22-16 cushion heading into the locker rooms.
The Gauchos tallied the first four points of the second half, but the defending Mountain West Conference champs kept chipping away at their deficit and pulled within 31-30 following Kim Smith's jumper at the 10:58 mark. On the next trip down the floor, Mann answered with a three-pointer from the right wing, and senior center Lindsay Taylor muscled in a layup that game UCSB some breathing room at 36-30. Utah again threatened the nation's second-longest home winning streak - now at 25 straight games - with a triple that made the scoreboard read 47-42 with 2:13 to play, but Santa Barbara freshman post player Jenna Green followed up a missed shot on her team's ensuing possession for two of her seven points. UCSB then sunk three-of-four free-throws down the stretch to ice the victory.
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For the second straight game, the Gauchos were led by Mann and senior swing player Lisa Willett with 11 points apiece, while Fished added 10. Santa Barbara atoned for its lackluster field goal shooting by connecting on 12-of-16 shots (75.0%) from the charity stripe and owning a narrow 36-34 advantage on the boards.
Thurburn led all scorers with 14 points and Smith, a Preseason All-American, contributed 13 in the Utes' losing effort while also grabbing a game-high seven rebounds. Utah's three-point shooting was an Achilles' heel all night as the visitors made just 5-of-28 attempts (17.9%) from beyond the arc. However they took relatively good care of the basketball with 11 assists vs. 11 turnovers.
The winner of Thursday's Texas Tech-UCSB showdown in Lubbock will face either 16th-ranked Rutgers or Michigan in the Preseason WNIT Championship game on Sunday, Nov. 23.
