Nov. 15, 1999

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Five Gauchos scored in double figures as No. 14 UC Santa Barbara defeated the UNLV women's basketball team 77-56 in the first round of the Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament at The Thunderdome Monday.

UCSB outscored the Lady Rebels 21-5 over 10:14 in the second half to take a commanding 23-point lead at 67-44 with 5:11 remaining and held on for the win.

Leading 32-30 with just under two minutes to play in the first half, UCSB used a 9-2 run over the remainder of the half to take a 41-32 halftime lead.

UCSB (1-0) was led in scoring by Kate Christensen's 15 points. Other double-figure scorers for the Gauchos were Stacy Clinesmith with 12, Kristi Rohr with 11 and Erin Buescher with 10. Christensen led the team in rebounds with 14.

Kinesha Davis led all scorers with 27 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds for a double-double. Linda Fr?hlich fouled out with seven points.

With the loss, UNLV (0-1) was knocked out of the tournament and UCSB will now host TCU in the second round on Wednesday, Nov. 21.

The Lady Rebels will return home on Tuesday, Nov. 23 to host Southern Utah at 7:35 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Center. The game may be heard live on KENO AM 1460 in Las Vegas and on the internet by logging on at www.unlvrebels.com.