For the second-consecutive year, five of the Big West women’s basketball teams have finished with an overall .500 or better record on the season. This is just the second time in seven years that many teams have recorded a winning season, and just the fourth time in the last ten years that at least 50 percent of the conference has recorded winning records. In the last ten years, the only other season to record a better percentage then the past two years (.556), was in 2004-2005 when the overall conference combined an average of .600., with 6 of the 10 institutes marking a .500 or better on the season.
The Final Match
After quarterfinal upsets followed by semifinal shock, Long Beach State found themselves in the championship match of the Big West Tournament. It marked just the second time in Big West history that a seed lower than five had played for the title.
Long Beach continued its dramatic postseason run with a win over No. 2 Cal State Northridge in the quarterfinals 57-52, and an upset over No. 1 Cal Poly in the semifinals after trailing by double-digits to come back for the win. It was the second double-digit comeback the 49ers displayed in the Big West Tournament when battling to make it to the championship match. The offensive struggles were obvious as the first half finished with Cal Poly shooting 20.8 percent from the field and Long Beach at 18.5 percent. In the three-point win (51-48), the 49ers held the Mustangs to one of their lowest conference shooting percentages on the season (28.1).
In the championship match against UC Santa Barbara the 49ers held their ground going into the half trailing by one, and only by three with a little more than two minutes to play. It was a good run for the No. 7 seed, Long Beach State as they fell short in the championship game, 63-54, to finish the season 14-18 overall and 7-9 conference record, unable to snatch a spot in postseason tournament play.
Gauchos Go Dancin’
The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos captured their first Big West Tournament Championship since 2009 in a 63-54 win against Long Beach State at Honda Center. Tournament MVP Kirsten Tilleman had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while teammate Melissa Zornig came off the bench to collect 12 points. UC Santa Barbara won the Big West Tournament for the 12th time in 16 years, and captured this year’s title as the No. 6 seed, the first time in Tournament history that the women’s champion was lower than a four seed.
Santa Barbara continued its postseason play in the first round of the NCAA Division I tournament facing No. 1 Baylor. The Gauchos traveled to Bowling Green, Ohio, for an opportunity to play against one of the country’s top ranked opponents in the “Big Dance”. The Gauchos were unable to post a victory, falling to the Bears, 81-40, and concluding the season with 17-16 overall mark. In her first season as head coach for the Gauchos, Carlene Mitchell led Santa Barbara to a .500 conference record and guided the Gauchos to their 14th trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Northridge Changes Course
Cal State Northridge posted one of the best win-differential records in NCAA Division I this season in comparison to last season’s finish. With just four wins during the 2010-11 season under first-year head coach Jason Flowers, the Matadors have turned it around in a matter of a year with a total of 17 wins this season.
It was the first appearance for the Matadors in the Big West Conference Basketball Tournament since the 2008-09 season and the highest seed Northridge has entered the tournament in program history (2004-05, No. 4, 2005-06, No. 7, 2006-07, No.4, 2008-09, No. 8). Entering the tournament with an overall 17-12 and Big West 11-5 record with the No. 2 seed, the Matadors had the home court advantage. But struggled to finish strong the Matadors fell to No. 7 seed Long Beach, 57-52 in the Big West Tournament quarterfinals. The Matadors made their way to the first round of the WNIT Tournament to take on San Diego, where they suffered a two-point loss (60-58) to the Toreros to close out the season 17-14 overall.
Big West Advances Fab Five
Winning the Big West Conference Tournament, the No. 6 seed UC Santa Barbara received the automatic bid to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, while four other teams earned a berth into the Women’s NIT, the most teams to appear in postseason play in Big West women’s basketball program history. The Pacific Tigers were the lone team to have the honor of hosting a first round matchup.
Regular season champion Cal Poly lost to Washington, 90-71, in its first round contest while Cal State Northridge suffered a two-point loss to next-season conference opponent San Diego (60-58). UC Davis dropped its first round meeting to Oregon, 66-48, to finish the season 17-14.
Pacific, who hosted Arizona State at the Alex G. Spanos Center for the first round of the WNIT, collected its first postseason win after downing Arizona State, 77-62. It was the first win for Big West women’s basketball in the WNIT since 2007 when UC Santa Barbara advanced to the second round with a win over San Diego (75-63). Pacific finished its season against San Diego in the second round of the WNIT. The Tigers were unable to continue its success and suffered an 83-75 loss in San Diego.
Mustangs’ Run Wild
Cal Poly entered the conference tournament hosting eighth seed Cal State Fullerton at Mott Gym. The Mustangs were able to get the only top-seed win in the first round of the Big West Tournament as No. 2 Cal State Northridge, No. 3 UC Irvine and No. 4 UC Davis fell in the quarterfinals to the lower seeded teams. Senior Kristina Santiago tallied a game-high 31 points and added 12 rebounds to collect her 16th double-double of the year in a 71-53 victory over the Titans. Cal Poly made its way to Honda Center for the semifinals against No. 7 Long Beach State, a series that was split during the regular season.
Unable to hold on for the second consecutive year, the Mustangs fell to Long Beach State, 51-48. It was an offensive struggle for both teams in the semifinal matchup, despite Santiago’s late push, Cal Poly was still unable to come up on the winning end. Long Beach held Cal Poly to its lowest shooting percentage from the floor this season (28.1). Only one other team held the Mustangs to a lower percentage this season, San Diego whole held Cal Poly to a 26.2 percent in its 69-52.
Despite the second round loss in the Big West Tournament, the Mustangs continued on with an automatic bid to the WNIT, traveling to host site Washington. Cal Poly pushed hard but fell, 90-71, to the Huskies in the first round. Kristina Santiago had a team-high 28 points, shooting 12-of-27 from the floor to finish out her career in the green and gold.
1,000 Point Milestone
Six Big West players have eclipsed the 1,000-career point milestone this season with frontrunner Kristina Santiago leading the 2011-12 season. The senior center started all 29 of her appearances this season after suffering a season-ending injury in her first game of last season. This year she led the league with an average of 23.4 points per game, 9.9 rebounds and a 55.5 field-goal percentage on the season. Santiago finished her career as a Mustang with the most career points in school history (1,924 while claiming the eighth spot in Big West all-time records for career points. She earned her third Big West First Team All-Conference honor, second Big West Player of Year accolade and first All-Tournament team honor to leave her mark in both Cal Poly and Big West history.
Santiago has been selected to appear in this years Pro Hoops Free Agent Camp. She is the first Cal Poly women’s basketball player to be invited in program history to the camp that is held in conjunction with the NCAA Final Four.
Megan Richardson, who ranked second in the conference in scoring with a 16.2 average, has been a standout for Cal State Fullerton since her freshman campaign. She has scored in double figures in 23 of the team’s 29 games this season, while holding the 14th spot in all-time career scoring in Big West history with 1,729 points. She is among three historical Titans to score 400 points or more in three-consecutive seasons. The senior guard has played in every game of her career and has started the last 116 contests. The only games where she did not start were early in her Titan career where she missed five starts at the beginning of her freshman season.
Cal State Northridge senior Jasmine Erving finished her final season with the Matadors only sitting out the first game of the season, and starting in all of her 31 outings. Erving averaged 14.9 points per game during the 2011-12 season to help her total 1,523 career points, claiming the 27th spot in Big West all-time scoring. The starting center had the second-most double-doubles in the conference and ranked nationally (T28th) for her 13 double-doubles.
Senior guard for the Gauchos, Emilie Johnson, had a strong finish for Santa Barbara, scoring in double figures for eight of the last 10 contests, landing an all-time 1,361 career points, 43rd in Big West history. Johnson averaged 9.5 points per game to lead the Gauchos in scoring, while starting in 31 of 32 appearances this season. Johnson was named to the All-Big West Second Team and was one of the Top-10 nationwide finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.
Cal State Fullerton’s Lauren Chow scored 1,310 (52nd-Big West) points in her career and holds the record for three-pointers in the Titans’ women’s basketball history book. Chow averaged 8.1 points per game, starting 28 of her 30 games played this season. As a four-year starter for the Titans, Chow was also honored as Cal State Fullerton’s female scholar-athlete of the 2011 year. She was named to the Big West All-Conference Honorable Mention team for her outstanding performance in the conference.
The final athlete to reach the 1,000-point milestone is Aggie’s starting forward Kasey Riecks, who finished the season starting all 31 games played this season. She averaged 8.2 points per game with 246 points on the season. She has an all-time career high of 1,076 for a spot in the top-100 in Big West all-time career points.