Former UCSB women’s basketball star Mekia Valentine, the last Gaucho to be drafted by the WNBA, died on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said on Monday.
The cause of death is awaiting an autopsy, the spokesman said. Ms. Valentine, a graduate of UCSB in 2011, had turned 32 earlier this month.
“This is a tragic situation, we are all very saddened by it,” said athletics director John McCutcheon. “Our hearts go to her. It is in our thoughts and prayers. “
Ms. Valentine, a 6 foot 4 inch transfer from Wake Forest, was the first player Lindsay Gottlieb recruited when she succeeded Mark French as coach of the Gauchos 12 years ago.
The 6-foot-4 center was ranked as the country’s No. 23 rookie and the third-best striker by Full Court Press after leaving high school in Greensboro, North Carolina.
She was part of the ACC’s freshman all-star team in 2007 with an average of 5.9 points and 4.7 rebounds with 50 blocked shots, the second record in Wake Forest history. She continued with averages of 6.0 points and 4.8 rebounds with 44 blocks in her second year.
Gottlieb was ecstatic when Ms. Valentine chose to transfer to UCSB.
“Whatever points or rebounds she accumulates, it will never tell the story of Mekia Valentine, her competitiveness and what she brings to the table,” she said. “Above all, she is an absolutely exceptional young woman.”
Valentine made red shirts in the 2008-09 season and then led the UCSB to a record 19-12 and a place in the WNIT as a junior in 2009-10, averaging 12.3 points and 9.7 rebounds. His 4.0 blocks per game set a school record and placed third in the country. She received honors from the second All-Big West Conference team and was also elected to the Big West All-Tournament team.
She was also part of the second all-star team as a senior while making a double-double of 11.1 points and 11.2 rebounds with 3.7 blocks.
His 347 rebounds this season set a school record. This mark was shattered this year by rookie Gaucho Ila Lane, who received an honorable mention from the Associated Press All-America after scoring 378 rebounds for an average of 13.0 per game.
Ms. Valentine still holds the UCSB records for average career rebound (10.5 per game), blocks in one game (11), blocks in one season (120) and percentage of goals on the field both in one season (0.620) and one career (.595).
The New York Liberty selected her for the third round of the 2011 WNBA Draft – the first Gaucho chosen since the Minnesota Lynx chose Kristen Mann in the first round in 2005. However, she chose to go abroad and spent the next four years playing as a professional basketball player in Israel, Poland, Romania and Germany.
Ms. Valentine returned to Santa Barbara after retiring from basketball and studied nursing at SBCC. She also worked as a human resources assistant for a local computer software company.
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