UC Santa Barbara Women Put Stops on USC, 75-65

The UC Santa Barbara women’s basketball team has won three consecutive Big West Championships, two conference tournament titles in a row and has been in the NCAA tournament two consecutive seasons.

And the Gauchos (7-3) seemed headed in that direction again Tuesday night at the Sports Arena, where they defeated USC (4-5) for the second season in a row, 75-65, deploying a defense that denied the Trojans a field goal over the last 10:54.

Playing before 1,087, USC looked like the Pacific 10 Conference’s best team at the start, but finished looking like the worst.

Senior guard Kristin Clark and freshman Tiffany Elmore--who had two three-point baskets within 34 seconds--led USC to a 29-15 lead with 10:34 left in the first half. But at that point, USC’s game collapsed.

The Gauchos caught the Trojans late in the first half and applied defensive pressure on USC’s 6-foot-4 Adrain Williams, limiting her to four of 16 shooting.

“Those shots have to fall for Adrain,” Trojan Coach Chris Gobrecht said. “She’s too important to us to have nights like this.”

Said UCSB Coach Mark French: “I thought we did a nice defensive job, particularly after the middle of the first half when it looked like Clark was going to get 80 on us.

“We didn’t change anything, we just picked up the pressure.

USC out-rebounded the UCSB, 44-36, but the Gauchos’ defensive pressure confined Gobrecht’s players to the free-throw line in the stretch, where they made only 19 of 33.

The best player on the court was Santa Barbara’s 6-3 sophomore guard Erin Buescher, who had 25 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals in 35 minutes.

UCSB has beaten Northwestern, Vanderbilt and USC on the road.

USC will open Pac-10 play Saturday at Arizona.