Fullerton, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton downed UC Irvine, 58-44 at Titan Gym Saturday afternoon.

UCI's bench scored 31 of the team's 44 points as the Anteaters go to 12-16 overall and 8-7 in the Big West. Cal State Fullerton secures a spot in the Big West Tournament with the win and is 11-16 overall and 4-10 in the Big West.

UCI was led by sophomore forward Jasmine Bernard with a team-high 12 points. Sophomore guard Kelly Meggs totaled seven points and three assists, while sophomore forward Lauren Spinazze sparked the Anteaters tying her season-high with six points and tying her career-high with five rebounds. Freshman forward Methlyn Onogomuho added four points and a team-high five rebounds. UCI's top two scorers Kassandra McCalister (14.1 ppg) and Jacquelyn Marshall (9.5) combined for four points.

The Anteaters, who were averaging 5.0 three-pointers per game, were just 2-10 from beyond the arc. UCI out-rebounded the Titans 35-34.

Cal State Fullerton was led by Megan Richardson with 19 points, followed by Mya Olivier and Kathleen Iwuoha with 10 points each. Olivier and Lauren Chow had a game-high six rebounds. Chow also added nine points in the win.

Cal State Fullerton jumped out to a 9-2 lead and extended the margin to 25-8 on Megan Richardson three-pointer with 8:46 left in the first half. UCI would score the next six points to close within 25-14 at 5:11, but the Titans responded with four of their own to push the lead back to 15 (29-14) at 4:16. Cal State Fullerton would hold the 39-19 advantage at halftime. UCI's 19 points was the second lowest offensive output for 20 minutes of action this season.

Fullerton had its largest lead of the game, 43-21, at 12:28 when UCI tied to rally scoring nine in a row, the last a Pernilla Hanson three-pointer, to close to 43-30 with 9:17 remaining. A Lauren Chow three-pointer extended the Titan lead to 48-33 with 7:48 left before the Anteaters went on a 5-0 run to narrow the margin to 48-37 at 5:51. Fullerton would answer again scoring the next four to push the gap back to 15 (52-37) at 4:28. A pair of free throws by Hanson and Meggs narrowed the deficit to 11 (55-44) with 1:38 remaining, but that would be the last time UCI would score.

UCI travels to UC Riverside for the regular season finale Thursday (Mar. 1) at 7:00 p.m.

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