Gauchos’ Streak Ended by Riverside

Fourth-seeded UC Riverside ended the longest championship run in Big West tournament history Saturday, upsetting top-seeded UC Santa Barbara, 59-58, in the Anaheim Convention Center. In doing so, the Highlanders qualified for their first trip to the NCAA Division I tournament.

It was the ninth straight win for Riverside (16-14), the lowest-seeded team to win the 23-year-old tournament. The victory, made possible by a three-pointer by Amber Cox with 1 minute 10 seconds remaining, stopped the streak of nine straight titles for Santa Barbara (16-13) dating to 1997.

The Highlanders, who led, 32-28, at halftime, also broke the Gauchos’ 26-game winning streak in tournament games. Before Saturday, their last tournament loss was 88-87 in double overtime to Pacific in 1996.

“Before the game I used the old cliche of preparation meeting opportunity,” Riverside Coach John Margaritis said. “We worked hard, and that was our opportunity. We weren’t scared. We didn’t know if we would win or lose, but we weren’t scared. And we didn’t play scared.”

The Highlanders, led by Vanessa Campillo’s 15 points, kept their poise even after losing tournament MVP Kemie Nkele (13 points) to fouls with 7:26 left. The last lead Santa Barbara had was 57-55 with 3:17 to play on a 16-foot jumper from Autumn Nichols

“It seemed like [Riverside] had nerves of steel,” Santa Barbara Coach Mark French said. “I thought they were extremely resilient after Nkele fouled out. A lot of teams would have had difficulty maintaining their composure with their star player out. But it didn’t seem to bother them at all.”

Jessica Wilson, who led Santa Barbara with 17, shot with less than two seconds to play, but the ball bounced off the side of the rim and the Gauchos could not get off another shot.