By james art UCI Women’s Basketball (13-5, 7-1) faced UC Riverside (8-10, 4-4) for the second time this season, beating them with 56-53 on January 23 at Bren Events Center.
Irvine was just after his fourth consecutive victory, their last winning 59-57 against Kal Polly on January 18th. They are looking to split the series from the season after the disappointing loss by 59-54 on January 4 in Riverside, California, “Eaters were determined to win the UCR.
UCI Junior Guard Hunter Hernandez opened the score with two criminal strokes to create an lead of 2-0. The graduate striker Nevaeh Dean followed him with the theft and assisted the junior guard Olivia Williams when putting on, increasing their lead to 4-0. Their offensive aggression continued in the first quarter, and despite the efforts of Highlanders, Irvine led by 15-10 in the second quarter.
After UCI got the ball at the beginning of the second quarter, Williams made his way into the paint before hitting a jump, increasing the lead to 17-10. Two games later, Ervine’s senior guard, Nicky Tom, put his back to his back-a remarkable contribution, given Tom’s resistance to shoot most of the season.
Dean scored a threesome to complete a 7-0 series, raising Irvine by 24-13. As Irvine’s attack continued to improve at the end of the first half, shooting 50% as a whole, UCR struggled to bounce effectively and ended the second quarter behind 32-22.
Riverside began the second half with a series of 4-0, which returned the hope of their bench. However, Ervin’s senior pointegard, Dey Lee, made his own series of 4-0 with two deposits, followed by a threesome from Williams, finishing the second series of 7-0 in Irvine in the match. Eaters quickly increased their lead to 39-26, and the game seemed to escape from Highlanders.
The biggest highlight of the Riverside match was graduated Guard Seneca Hakli, who scored the highest 18 points for the season and led the attack in the attempt to return against Ervine. By the end of the third quarter, Eaters provided a lead of 44-34.
Highlanders opened the fourth quarter with penalty strikes from Hackley and the senior Center Gemma Cutler, followed by a new threesome by Hackley. Suddenly things became serious for Irvine. More than the middle of the fourth fourth UCI had not yet scored a single point and were struggling to control the ball.
Covering the freshman from Riverside, Kaylani Polk, who finished a series of 7-0, served as a reality check for UCI head coach Tamara Inow, who re-included all its holders to make sure the team could stop things. Fortunately, they made just that-and the five made an offensive contribution, starting with Series 9-4, including four criminal strokes of Lee and Tom, a jump of Hernandez and the putting on Williams. The quarter was not easy, but they did enough to keep their lead.
Highlanders were ruthless in the fourth quarter, aided by the shaken team Anteaters. They pulled within two points until the end of the quarter, adding pressure to what once looked like a safe game. But their efforts were not enough to protect Eaters and Riverside fell from Ervine by 56-53.
UCI will travel to Honolulu, Hawaii, for a match against the University of Hawaii on January 25 at Simplifi Arena.
Avery Rosas is a writer of sports staff. It can be reached on [email protected]S
Edited by Benjamin Flores and Jahim Conli.