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Saturday, Mar. 18 12:05pm ET
Rice finds success in first trip to NCAA's | |||||
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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) -- Rice's first-ever visit to the NCAA tournament produced a major surprise. Kim Smallwood scored 16 of her 22 points in the second half and the Lady Owls stifled UC Santa Barbara's run-and-gun offense Saturday night, upsetting the ninth-ranked Gauchos 67-64 in the first round of the West Regional. "The balls were just going in," said Smallwood, a senior averaging just 7.6 points per game. "I had to fight hard on the boards and try to use my quickness to score. "It was a great team effort, I just happened to make the points." The Gauchos, the fourth-highest scoring team in the country with an 81.6-point average, made just 34 percent of their shots to 50.8 percent for Rice and committed 21 turnovers to 12 for the Lady Owls. "That was a tremendous defensive effort," a somber UCSB coach Mark French said. "They put great ball pressure on us. We have not seen defense like that all year. "I always admire tremendous defensive effort. Unfortunately, it was against us." The Gauchos had two chances to tie it in the final 20 seconds after Marla Brumfield and Smallwood missed foul shots. But Erin Buescher and Nicole Greathouse failed to connect on 3-pointers, with Greathouse missing as time expired. "We thought if we played our game, played good defense, we could pull it off," Rice coach Cristy McKinney said. "We got the key rebounds at the end. Keeping turnovers down was a big key. "At halftime, we felt with our missed shots and missed opportunities, we had a good chance. We took some things away from Buescher, she missed some shots, we wanted her to take tough shots." The loss snapped a 26-game UCSB winning streak -- longest in the country. The Gauchos (30-4), seeded fourth in the West, hadn't lost since Dec. 4. In addition, UCSB had won 25 straight at home. When the game ended, the 13th-seeded Lady Owls and their handful of fans in the capacity crowd of 5,824 at the Thunderdome celebrated on the court as the stunned UCSB fans sat silent. Brumfield scored 16 points and Kirra Jordan had 15 before fouling out with 1:51 left for the Lady Owls (22-9), who play North Carolina on Monday night for a berth in the round of 16. LaQuanda Barksdale scored 16 of her 23 points in the second half to lead the fifth-seeded Tar Heels past 12th-seeded Maine 62-57 earlier Saturday night. Greathouse led UCSB with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Buescher had 16 points and 16 rebounds. But it wasn't enough for the Gauchos, seeded fourth in the West and hosting an NCAA tournament game for the first time. "Some shots go in, some shots go out," said a tearful UCSB point guard Stacy Clinesmith, who had 10 points and six assists but committed five turnovers. "They didn't fall for us. That's basketball, that's what happens. "They played great defense on us, they put pressure on me the whole game." A three-point play by Brumfield with 6:15 remaining capped a 9-2 run by the Lady Owls, putting them ahead 56-50, and they led the rest of the way. The Gauchos got as close as one point on a short jumper by Kristi Rohr with 2:40 to play, but Brumfield scored her team's final four points. Greathouse, a junior averaging 6.1 points, scored her team's first 10 in less than four minutes. However, the Gauchos quickly cooled, managing only eight points in the next 11 minutes. The Lady Owls played UCSB on even terms throughout the first half, which ended with the Gauchos ahead 28-27 despite making only six of 23 shots. | ALSO SEE Womens College Basketball Scoreboard Santa Barbara NCAA Team Report
AUDIO/VIDEO   Marla Brumfield drives the lane for the hoop and the foul.avi: 497 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Marla Brumfield follows her shot and makes the layup.avi: 626 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Stacy Clinesmith dishes to Kristi Rohr for the turn-around jumper.avi: 639 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||