Santa Barbara Puts Away Idaho

The crown stayed put despite a firm tug.

And in the Big West Conference, it’s still Santa Barbara and everyone else.

Idaho, which moves to the Western Athletic Conference next season, almost sneaked off with the Big West tournament title Saturday. But the Gauchos, trailing by 11 points with 12 minutes to play, ran off 19 in a row to take the lead for good in a 74-66 victory in front of 1,226 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Santa Barbara (21-8), which has won nine straight tournament titles, will learn its NCAA tournament seeding today.

“I can’t remember a Big West tournament or championship game where we’ve had to come from behind like that,” Santa Barbara Coach Mark French said. “It was a real testimony to the toughness of our women. This season, with all the injuries and a tough preseason schedule, you saw some great heart from our team.”

Kristen Mann, the tournament’s most valuable player, scored 33 points and teammate Mia Fisher had 26.

The Vandals (19-11), the first team to sweep the Gauchos in regular-season conference play since the 1993-94 season, got 21 points from junior forward Emily Faurholt and 19 points and nine assists from sophomore guard Leilani Mitchell.

But after taking a 36-31 lead at the half, and building it up to 57-46 with 12 minutes 2 seconds to play, Idaho went scoreless over the next 8:37.

Even the dependable Faurholt missed two free throws during the cold spell.

“Today is a lot tougher to take this time,” Faurholt said. “I think we played a good game, I thought we played tough. We did a lot of things we wanted to do ... but Kristen played like a WNBA player today. She was phenomenal.”

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No. 6 Baylor 68, No. 17 Kansas State 55 -- Sophia Young scored 18 points, earning Big 12 Conference tournament MVP honors, and the Bears (27-3) won their first championship with a victory over the Wildcats (23-7) at Kansas City, Mo.

Steffanie Blackmon had 14 rebounds for Baylor, which won its 14th game in a row.

In other conference tournament championship games:

Erika Messam’s jump shot with 4.2 seconds left lifted Hartford (22-8) to a 52-50 win over Boston University at West Hartford, Conn., in the America East final.... Kristy Brown scored a game-high 28 points to lead Stetson (17-13) to an 88-62 victory over Georgia State at Dothan, Ala., in the Atlantic Sun title game.... Hollie Tyler scored a career-high 29 points to lead Montana (22-7) to an 80-64 victory over Weber State in the championship game of the Big Sky tournament at Missoula, Mont.... Katie Feenstra scored 19 points to lead Liberty (24-6) to a conference-record ninth consecutive Big South title after an 88-41 rout of North Carolina Asheville at Lynchburg, Va.... Shareese Grant’s steal and layup with 4.6 seconds left in overtime helped Old Dominion (22-8) to a 78-74 victory over Delaware in the Colonial Athletic Assn. title game at Fairfax, Va. Old Dominion improved to 41-0 in the conference tournament since joining the league in 1991-92.... Elise Morrison had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead Dartmouth (17-10) to a 75-61 victory over Harvard at Providence, R.I., in a playoff game to determine the Ivy League’s entry into the NCAA tournament.... Kate Achter scored 21 points and Liz Honegger had 20 to help Bowling Green (23-7) beat Kent State, 81-75, at Cleveland for its first Mid-American tournament championship since 1994.... LaKesha Wills scored 20 points and Coppin State (22-7) gained its first NCAA tournament bid in 20 years, beating Norfolk State, 67-43, for the Mid-Eastern Athletic title at Richmond, Va.... Illinois State (13-17) completed a shocking run through the Missouri Valley tournament, edging Indiana State, 72-70, in the title game at Normal, Ill., to claim its first NCAA tournament berth in 16 years.... Dionne Marsh scored 14 of her 22 points in the first half and New Mexico (26-4) overcame poor shooting with a smothering defense to beat Utah, 47-37, at Denver for its third straight Mountain West tournament title.... Christin Black had 17 points and eight rebounds and St. Francis, Pa. (21-9), won its fourth straight Northeast tournament title, 65-50, over Robert Morris at Loretto, Pa.... Rola Ogunoye had 22 points to lead Texas Arlington (21-9) to a 60-54 victory over host Louisiana Monroe to win the Southland title game and its first NCAA bid.... Rasaan Powell scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lift Alcorn State (21-8) to the Southwestern Athletic title with a 56-47 victory over Southern at Birmingham, Ala.... Lauren Neaves led six players in double figures with 22 points to give Rice (24-8) the Western Athletic tournament title after an 86-66 victory over three-time defending champion Louisiana Tech at Reno, Nev.

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Schedule

Dates and cities playing host to the women’s NCAA tournament:

FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS

* March 19 and 21: at Dallas, Fresno, Minneapolis and Seattle.

* March 20 and 22: at Chapel Hill, N.C.; College Park, Md.; Knoxville, Tenn.; and Storrs, Conn.

REGIONALS

* March 26 and 28: at Chattanooga, Tenn., and Tempe, Ariz.

* March 27 and 29: at Kansas City, Mo., and Philadelphia

NATIONAL SEMIFINALS

* April 3: at Indianapolis

NATIONAL FINAL

* April 5: at Indianapolis

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Associated Press contributed to this report.