March 8, 2004

SANTA BARBAR, Calif. - Highlighted by first-team selections for Kristen Mann and Lindsay Taylor, six UC Santa Barbara women's basketball players earned postseason honors from the Big West Conference on Monday.

Taylor became just the third player in UCSB history to garner All-Big West acclaim all four seasons of her collegiate career, joining Stacy Clinesmith and Kristi Rohr (1996-2000) in that elite group. After ranking among the league's top-10 players in scoring, rebounding and blocks per game as well as field goal percentage, Taylor earned her second straight spot on the all-conference first team. The senior center from Chandler, Ariz. - who was the Big West Player of the Year in 2002-03 - needs just 44 points to become the Gauchos' all-time leading scorer.

Joining Taylor on the first team for a second straight year was Mann, a junior forward from Santa Ana, Calif. She has scored in double figures 24 times in 2003-04, and appears on the league's top-10 lists in points per game, rebounds per game and shooting percentage. In addition to her First Team All-Big West selection last season, Mann was an honorable mention recipient in 2001-02 when she was also the conference freshman of the year.

A trio of Gauchos earned honorable mention accolades in 2003-04, including junior guard Mia Fisher who appears on the list for the third consecutive year. The Pleasanton, Calif., native has scored 10 or more points of 14 occasions this season, and remains the fourth-most accurate shooter in UCSB history at 53.8% for her career. In her first and only season as a Gaucho, senior point guard April McDivitt (Connersville, Ind.) can claim honorable mention acclaim thanks to her assist, steal and three-point shooting averages that all rank among the Big West's top-10. Repeating as a member of the honorable mention squad is junior forward Brandy Richardson (Aiea, Hawai'i), whose 7.4 rebounds per game in conference play lead the Gauchos. Against league opponents she also posted 1.9 blocks and 1.0 steals per contest; all three averages rank her in the top-10.

Earning a spot on the Big West All-Freshman Team was Jenna Green. The post player from San Jose, Calif., has earned eight starts during her rookie season with the Gauchos, and is averaging 0.8 blocks per game to rank ninth among all conference players. In addition, Green's 19 points during a Feb. 5 win over Idaho were the most by a Santa Barbara freshman in nearly two full seasons.

Idaho made a clean sweep of the league's top postseason awards, led by sophomore Emily Faurholt - the nation's leading scorer at 26.1 points per game - who captured Big West Player of the Year honors. Meanwhile Mike Divilbiss was named Coach of the Year while point guard Leilani Mitchell earned Freshman of the Year recognition as the Vandals recorded a 21-6 regular season record and their most victories in 18 years. This is the first season since 1994-95 that UCSB has not claimed at least one of the three major Big West awards. For the complete list of all-conference honorees, please visit www.bigwest.org.

The Gauchos - who won their unprecedented ninth straight regular season league title and currently boast a 23-6 overall record - open Big West Tournament play in Anaheim, Calif., on Friday, March 1 against the lowest-remaining seeded team.