On a night when UC Santa Barbara inducted another legend in its inaugural “Legends of the ‘Dome” class – this being former women’s basketball coach Mark French – a legendary performance from Mekia Valentine was not enough for the Gauchos to overcome UC Riverside.
The Highlanders outlasted UCSB, 60-54, in overtime on Thursday at the Thunderdome to improve to 11-13 overall and 8-3 in the Big West. The Gauchos fall to 8-15, 5-6. The 15 losses secures UCSB’s first losing regular season since 1989-90 and the Gauchos’ six conference defeats are the program’s most since going 11-7 in the 1993-94 season.
Valentine, however, did her best to prevent those ignominies from happening. The junior center had 26 points and 22 rebounds – both career highs – to go with five blocked shots. Her 22 rebounds are second-most in school single-game history behind Leslie Ford’s 25 set on Jan. 21, 1977 vs. Cal State Northridge. Valentine’s 22 boards are the most by a Gaucho since Amy Smith had 20 at USC on Dec. 19. 1996.
“A lot of that (rebounding) comes from playing defense,” said Valentine, whose layup with 0:07 left in regulation tied the game at 49-49.
UCSB did a good job of playing defense. The Gauchos allowed UCR to shoot just 33.9% from the field. But the one place they couldn’t match the Highlanders was at the free throw line. UCR was 15 of 20 from the charity stripe while the Gauchos were just 7-for-16.
Meagan Williams and Emilie Johnson each had 10 points and Williams handed out a career-best eight assists.
UCSB will travel to face Long Beach State on Saturday in the Pyramid at 4 p.m. The game airs live on AM 990 and will stream live online at UCSBgauchos.com.
