Mekia Valentine, a former UCSB basketball standout, died on Thursday, March 26, the university’s athletic department announced Tuesday. She was 32.
The manner and cause of death were pending the results of an autopsy, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.
According to her LinkedIn page, Valentine was working as a human resources assistant at the tech firm AppFolio in Goleta.
“Our hearts are heavy today as we process the passing of our Gaucho family member,” said Kelly Barsky, UCSB deputy athletics director and Valentine’s former coach. “Our deepest condolences to her family. I am heartbroken as are her many teammates, friends, coaches and those in the community that knew and loved her.
“We are sharing in the grief and sadness by exchanging memories, thinking about her flashing that big smile of hers, and remembering how she could light up a room.
“She made her mark on the Gaucho basketball record book, but there are so many cherished memories of Mekia both on and off the court. When the time is right, we hope to bring our Gaucho community together in her honor.”
Valentine graduated from UCSB in 2011.
She transferred from Wake Forest after her sophomore year in 2008, took a red-shirt year, and then played two seasons for then-coach Lindsay Gottlieb, who had succeeded Mark French at UCSB.
In her junior season of 2009-10, the 6-foot-4 Valentine averaged 12.3 points, led the team in rebounding with a 9.7 average per game, and blocked a school-record 120 shots.
She earned second-team All-Big West honors and was named to the Big West All-Tournament team after leading the Gauchos to the championship game.
In 2010-11, she averaged a double-double of 11.1 points and 11.1 rebounds, and blocked 115 shots. She was named the Big West defensive player of the year.
A native of Greensboro, N.C., Valentine holds 10 of the 13 top shot-blocking performances in UCSB history, including a school record and career-high 11 on Jan. 2, 2010.
She was also one of just three players in school history with three games of 20 or more rebounds in a game, including a career-high 22 on Feb. 11, 2010, against UC Riverside, the third most on UCSB’s all-time top-10 list.
Valentine was taken by the New York Liberty in the third round of the 2011 WNBA Draft. However, she elected to pursue a professional basketball career abroad, and spent the next four years playing in Israel, Poland, Romania and Germany.
She returned to Santa Barbara after retiring from basketball, studied nursing at SBCC, and worked as a patient-care technician at Cottage Health before moving to AppFolio.