No. 13 UC Santa Barbara fell to No. 4 Virginia, 86-52, in the first round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Va.
UC Santa Barbara, the 2007-08 Big West Women's Basketball Regular Season and Tournament Champion, ends the year with an overall mark of 23-8. Virginia improves to 24-9 and advances to the second round of the NCAA Tournament where it will face Old Dominion.
Despite fouling out, Jessica Wilson scored a team-high 13 and finished the night 6-of-8 from the field, while tallying five rebounds and three steals. Ashlee Brown was the only other Gaucho to reach double-digits, scoring 10 points.
Cavalier Lyndra Littles drained a game-high 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the only double-double of the contest. Aisha Mohammed scored 15 points and Sharnee Zoll added 13 for Virginia.
As a team, the Cavaliers shot 53.9 percent from the field (25-of-57) and 71.4 percent from 3-point range (5-of-7). Conversely, UC Santa Barbara shot just 33.3 percent from the field (19-of-57) and 16.7 from behind the arc (2-of-12).
"In general, our inability to keep them from penetrating and keeping them from the foul line hurt us," stated UCSB head coach Mark French. "They were a bit too quick and athletic for us. They certainly responded magnificently in the second half. It’s a credit to Virginia."
The Gauchos' largest lead of the contest was a 12-9 advantage at 14:52 in the first half. From that point on, the two teams battled back-and-forth until the Cavaliers took a 20-19 lead at the nine-minute mark and never looked backed. UC Santa Barbara went into the lockerroom trailing the Cavaliers 39-30.
Brown scored UCSB’s final seven points of the first half, including a bucket with one minute left that ended a five-minute scoreless streak for the Gauchos. Led by Wilson's 10 points, UCSB shot 41.9 percent from the field in the first half (13-of-31). Sharnee Zoll paced the Cavaliers with 11 points at the break. As a team, Virginia shot 42 percent from the field in the first half (11-of-26) and visited the free throw line 21 times, scoring 16 of its 39 first-half points from the charity stripe. The Gauchos, on the other hand, only went to the line six times, connecting on three attempts.
Virginia continued where it left off in the second half, extending the Cavaliers' lead to 21 in the first seven minutes of action. The Cavaliers also dominated on the glass tonight, out rebounding the Gauchos 47-21.
"We knew it was going to be a very physical game and there were a few calls that should of gone our way but I think the officials did well," commented Brown. "It was a hard loss but I think we are going to bring it next year and get back into this position again."
UC Santa Barbara, who advanced to its 13th straight postseason appearance (10 NCAA, 3 WNIT) after defeating UC Davis in the finals of the Big West Tournament, falls to 7-12 in the Big Dance. The Gauchos last NCAA Tournament win came in 2004 when they advanced to the Sweet 16 as the No. 11 seed.