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Santa Barbara, Long Beach in Final

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Stacy Clinesmith scored 19 points and Kristi Rohr had 16 as No. 9-ranked UC Santa Barbara extended the nation’s longest win streak to 25 games with an 80-68 victory over Pacific Friday in the semifinals of the Big West Conference tournament at Reno, Nev.

Santa Barbara (29-3) will play Long Beach State (20-9)--a 97-87 winner over Nevada--in the championship game today. Long Beach lost by 10 and 31 points to Santa Barbara in the regular season.

Santa Barbara defeated a Big West opponent for the 50th time in a row though Erin Buescher--the conference’s three-time player of the year--was in foul trouble most of the game. Buescher fouled out with 4:08 remaining with 11 points--six below her season average.

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Chante Guggia led Pacific (18-11) with 17 points.

Long Beach (20-9) was led by Rhonda Smith, who had 29 points and 11 rebounds. Smith is the nation’s fifth-leading scorer at 21.5 points a game. Angie Herr had a career-high 26 points for Nevada (19-10).

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Cal State Northridge (18-9) got 17 points from Neda Milac, a native of Belgrade, Serbia, in a 70-62 victory over Idaho State (13-15) in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference tournament in Missoula, Mont. Northridge plays Montana (20-7)--a 70-60 winner over Weber State (12-15)--for the championship today. The teams split their two regular-season games.

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Jenny Mowe had 14 points and 10 rebounds as No. 24 Oregon (23-7, 14-4) clinched its first outright Pacific 10 championship with a 60-53 victory over Oregon State (14-16, 10-8) at Eugene Oregon. . . . Betty Lennox had 28 points as No. 3 Louisiana Tech (27-2) held off Arkansas State (18-11) for a 91-81 victory in the Sun Belt tournament semifinals at Bowling Green, Ky. Louisiana Tech will play Western Kentucky (20-8) for the championship today. Julie Hagood tied a tournament record with 32 points for Arkansas State, which lost by 23 and 36 points to Louisiana Tech in the regular season. . . . No. 14 Old Dominion (26-4) was an 89-60 winner over East Carolina (15-14) at Richmond, Va.--its 101st consecutive victory against Colonial Athletic Association opponents. Old Dominion goes for an NCAA-record ninth consecutive tournament championship today against North Carolina Wilmington (18-11).

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