Santa Barbara, Long Beach Advance in the Big West

Erin Buescher had 17 points and 12 rebounds--her 15th double-double of the season--as No. 17-ranked UC Santa Barbara defeated Nevada, 74-57, on Wednesday night in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament at Reno.

Kristi Rohr had 14 points and Rachelle Rogers 12 for Santa Barbara (24-3), which extended its winning streak to 19 games.

Jessica Larsen led Nevada (9-19) with 14 points.

Santa Barbara, which defeated Nevada by 41 points on its home court three weeks ago, scored the first 14 points and led by as many as 26 in the first half.

Buescher, the Big West’s leading scorer with a 21.5-point average, had 11 points and Rohr 10 in the first half.

Santa Barbara plays Idaho, a 60-58 first-round winner over Pacific, in the semifinals today. Susan Woolf’s three-point basket with 5.5 seconds left was decisive for Idaho.

In other first-round Big West games on Wednesday:

Charel Bailey made a shot with 19 seconds left in overtime to give Long Beach State (17-10) a 76-74 victory over Boise State. Reta Sula’s three-point basket with 23 seconds accounted for the final points of regulation. Kesha Wade had 20 points for Long Beach State, which had four double-figure scorers.

North Texas had five players score in double figures to in a 71-68 victory over UC Irvine and will play Long Beach in the semifinals today. Irvine had a chance to tie the score with four seconds left but a lane violation nullified Kirsten Cappel’s free-throw attempt and the ball was awarded to North Texas. Cappel had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and teammate Chelsea Mackey had 14 points and 15 rebounds.

*

Rene Hanebutt made seven of 13 three-point shots and had 26 points to lead No. 9 Texas Tech (26-3) to a 74-55 victory over Kansas State (15-13) in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament at Kansas City, Mo. Five of Hanebutt’s three- point baskets came in the first half as Texas Tech took a 38-30 lead. . . . Stacy Frese scored 17 of her 19 points in the second half for No. 21 Iowa State (21-6) in a 63-44 victory over Missouri (13-15) in a Big 12 quarterfinal game. Trailing 27-26 at halftime, Iowa State went on a 17-4 run to open the second half. . . . In another Big 12 quarterfinal game, No. 25 Kansas (22-8) was a 59-53 winner over Oklahoma State (13-15).