BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - While the scoreboard didn't read the way she wanted it to when the dust settled, senior Phynique Allen (San Diego/Eastern Washington) was determined to leave everything out on the court. Playing in her final game with three of her other classmates, Allen scored a career–best 32 points, with a personal record of six three pointers, Saturday evening in the CSUB women's basketball (16–12 overall) finale. Unfortunately, the effort was not enough to overcome a streaking UC Santa Barbara (13–16 overall) team who captured its fifth consecutive victory with an 80–75 victory in the Icardo Center.
Allen, Katie Williams (Las Vegas/Reedley College), Kelley Tarver (Valencia HS) and Tiffany Belt (Bakersfield, Calif./West HS) were all honored prior to the game. Williams scored 11 points with four steals to join Allen in double figures. Freshman Amber Williams (Fontana, Calif./Etiwanda HS) added 14 points. Allen's energy brought the Roadrunners to within three late before picking up her fifth foul with just 10 seconds remaining. She scored 24 of her 32 points after the break.
UC Santa Barbara became just the seventh team on the year to shoot over 50 percent against the 'Runners (29-of-56; 51.8%). When the Gauchos did miss, they were right there on the glass to clean it up, tallying 48 total rebounds, 15 coming on the offensive end. Mekia Valentine led the way with by tying a CSUB opponent record with 21 rebounds. She added 14 points as four other UCSB players also reached double figure scoring. Ariana Gnekow had 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Despite falling behind by as many as 11 in the first half early, the Roadrunners battled back to grab a lead with one minute left to play. But a last second jumper from the Gauchos' Chris Spencer fell, giving UCSB a 38–36 lead at the break.
In the second half, CSUB led briefly early but played from behind the for the majority of the final 20 minutes. Down by 12 late, CSUB went on an 11–2 run to cut the deficit to three as Allen knocked down a pair of long range bombs. But Santa Barbara would respond, building a nine point lead with an 8–2 run of its own. Twice in the last 14 seconds, the 'Runners got the lead down to three points but timely free throws kept the lead at arms length as UCSB hit its last 6-of-6 from the free–throw line.
This concludes the Roadrunners' 2009–10 season.
UC SANTA BARBARA 80, CSU BAKERSFIELD 75
UC SANTA BARBARA (13-16)
E. Johnson 7-14 3-4 18;
Valentine 4-8 6-7 14; Gnekow 6-9 0-0 13; Spencer 3-7 6-8 13; Williams 5-8 2-2
12; Underwood,Sweets 2-4 0-0 4; M. Johnson 1-3 2-2 4; Franey 1-3 0-5 2; Corgel
0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-56 19-28 80.
CSU BAKERSFIELD (16-12)
Allen 11-26 6-9 32; A. Williams
5-9 0-0 14; K. Williams 5-11 1-1 11; Tarver 3-6 0-3 8; Davis 2-8 0-0 4; Belt
1-5 0-0 3; Leon 1-3 0-0 3; Smith 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 28-71 7-13 75.
UC Santa Barbara 38 42 80
CSU Bakersfield 36 39 75
3-point goals--UC Santa Barbara 3-8 (Spencer 1-2; Gnekow
1-1; E. Johnson 1-5), CSU Bakersfield 12-29 (Allen 4-9; A. Williams 4-8; Tarver
2-4; Belt 1-4; Leon 1-3; K. Williams 0-1). Fouled out--UC Santa Barbara-None,
CSU Bakersfield-Allen; Davis. Rebounds--UC Santa Barbara 48 (Valentine 21), CSU
Bakersfield 28 (Allen 6; Davis 6). Assists--UC Santa Barbara 17 (M. Johnson 4;
Williams 4), CSU Bakersfield 11 (Allen 5). Total fouls--UC Santa Barbara 15,
CSU Bakersfield 23. Technical fouls--UC Santa Barbara-None, CSU
Bakersfield-None. A-358
