The UCSB women’s basketball team is preparing for another conference matchup with Boise State, hoping to extend its regular-season Big West conference record to 46 consecutive victories.
Santa Barbara (9-6, 3-0 in the Big West) defeated Boise State at the Thunderdome last year 99-72 to open its conference season. The Broncos (6-10, 2-1) have never stolen a victory from the Gauchos in the Thunderdome, going 0-2 in the school’s history. The only time Boise State won a game was on a neutral site Dec. 19, 1992, prevailing 96-75. UCSB holds a 6-1 lifetime advantage over the Broncos.
“From watching the video of Boise State during their win of Long Beach State [on Jan. 21], it looks like they scrap for a lot of stuff and play real hard,” junior power forward Kayte Christensen said. “Everyone gets pumped for playing us: We are their big game. [BSU] will give it everything they have.”
Santa Barbara has been going through a typical week at practice preparing to combat the feisty Broncos. Senior forward Nicole Greathouse has lost only one Big West regular-season game in her four years at the university, falling against former Big West members Nevada during her freshman year.
“We’ve been working on the same stuff,” Greathouse said. “We had Monday off, and Tuesday we ran through plays a little bit. And we’ve seen some game film of Boise State.”
Freshman forward Jessica Combs reiterated the emphasis on the game plan to handle the Broncos.
“We’re just practicing running through our plays and worrying about their best players. Basically, we’ve been working on our defense and different ways we’ll be guarding them.”