Irvine, Calif. – Utah State held off a late rally by UC Irvine to defeat the Anteaters, 69-64 at the Bren Center Saturday.
UC Irvine trailed by eight, 61-53 with 5:53 remaining in the game before out-scoring the Aggies 7-2 on four points by Jazmyne White and three from Jasmine Bernard to close within 63-60 with 1:49 left. Utah State's Maddy Plunkett had a layup and a jumper by UCI's Kassandra McCalister with 47 seconds to go, keep the deficit at three, 65-62. Two free throws by Ashlee Brown were followed by another layup by White, 67-64 with 12 seconds remaining. The Anteaters fouled quickly, but Jennifer Schlott converted two free throws with six seconds left for the final score. The Aggies go to 3-1 overall, while UCI falls to 0-4.
In the first half, UC Irvine scored five straight points capped by a Jazmyne White layup at 15:34 to put the Anteaters up 7-2, the largest lead of the half. The teams would be tied four times following that point, including 28-28 at the half. Out of the intermission, Utah State went on a 13-4 run to take a nine-point lead, 41-32 at the 16:06 mark. White would score six of UCI's next eight points to narrow the lead to one, 41-40 at 14;29. The Aggies would build their largest lead of 10 (52-42) on a jumper by Devyn Christensen with 11:12 on the clock.
Junior forward Jazmyne White posted 20 points, going 10-14 from the floor in 22 minutes of action. It is her second consecutive game with 20 or more points. Sophomore Jasmine Bernard came off the bench to add 13 points and six rebounds, while freshman Methlyn Onogomuho totaled 11 points, six rebounds, two blocks and four steals. Senior Kiara Belen had eight points, all in the first half. Junior Anete Klintsone dished a game-high six assists to go with five points.
Utah State's Ashlee Brown led all players, recording 21 points and 14 rebounds with 14 of her points and 10 of her rebounds coming in the first 20 minutes of the game. Brooke Jackson and Maddy Plunket each totaled 12 points in the win.
UCI continued their hot hand, shooting 47.5 percent from the floor (28-59) overall, including 57.1 percent (16-28) in the second half. Utah State shot 43.4 percent from the field for the game. Once again, free throws were important as the Aggies were 22-27 (81.5) and UCI was just 7-16 (43.8). USU also held an advantage on the boards, 37-33. Each team made only one three-pointer.
UCI will travel to the Global Sports Page Classic hosted by the University of Oregon and meet Nicholls State in their first game Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 24) at 1:30 p.m.
