Nov. 28, 2003

Final Stats

Santa Barbara, Calif. - UC-Santa Barbara rallied from an eight-point second-half deficit to defeat Illinois, 70-59, at the Thunderdome in Santa Barbara, Calif., Friday night.

The Illini led 46-38 with 15:07 to play in the game, but were out-scored 32-13 the rest of the way as the 16th ranked Gauchos won their 27th straight at home. Tiffanie Guthrie led Illinois (1-2) with 20 points and nine rebounds, one rebound shy of her second straight double-double. Aminata Yanni scored 15 points, all in the first half.

The teams exchanged leads throughout most of the first half, as Illinois rallied from an early 11-2 deficit to take a 25-19 lead. Yanni was instrumental in the flurry with two three-pointers. UCSB then retook the lead and led 30-27 with a minute to play. The Illini then scored the final five points of the half, the last three on a Yanni triple to give Illinois a 32-30 halftime lead.

Illinois out-rebounded the Gauchos, 18-16, in the first half and held 6-8 Lindsay Taylor to seven points.

Illinois led for the first 12 minutes of the second half, until UCSB took the lead for good at 50-48. Point guard April McDivitt hit a pair of treys to give UCSB a 60-51 advantage and the Gauchos (4-1) never looked back. Illinois shot just 30.6 percent in the second half (7 of 23). Taylor paced UCSB with 20 points. Kristen Mann had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The Illini continue their West Coast trip with a game at UCLA on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. CST. The game will be broadcast live nationally on FoxSportsNet.