Santa Barbara Reaches the Final

Less than 10 minutes remained in the second half. Long Beach State had cut UC Santa Barbara’s lead to five points on two free throws by Candice Wilson. And Gaucho Coach Mark French later acknowledged he was thinking to himself, “I really hate this new format.”

Friday’s semifinal game was UC Santa Barbara’s first Big West women’s tournament game because the top two seeded teams had been given two-game byes.

Long Beach State was playing its third game in three days.

The top-seeded Gauchos weren’t always razor sharp, but they wore down the fifth-seeded 49ers, 74-56, at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The victory, fueled by 21 points by Lindsay Taylor and 15 by Krista Mann, put the Gauchos (24-6) into today’s final against Idaho, which defeated Pacific, 71-68. UC Santa Barbara has defeated Long Beach (14-16) in 26 consecutive games and 32 of 33 times since Jan. 25, 1992.

The 49ers tried to keep surging in the second half, getting as close as three, at 34-31, on a three-pointer by Lauren Bull at the 17:17 mark and 52-47 on Wilson’s free throws. Then the Gauchos broke off a 10-0 run over the next 2:20.

“I was glad we steadied the ship, took a lot better care of the ball in the second half and continued to defend pretty well,” French said.

*

Idaho 71, Pacific 68 -- The second-seeded Vandals (22-6) overcame a career-high 34 points and 11 rebounds by Tiger senior forward Gillian d’Hondt, and an off game by NCAA leading scorer Emily Faurholt to advance to their first conference tournament final. Third-seeded Pacific finished 15-14.