Big West Conference Game
UC Irvine at UC Riverside · Thursday, Mar. 1 · 7:00 p.m. · Student Recreation Center
Radio: KUCI 88.9 FM or www.ucirvinesports.com/media/listen_live/index
Video: http://www.fansonly.com/schools/bigw/allaccess/index.html
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/ucr/wbball/scoreboard.aspx

ON DECK:
Big West Tournament First Round · Tuesday, Mar. 6 · TBA

UCI FINISHES REGULAR SEASON AT UC RIVERSIDE: UC Irvine will travel to UC Riverside for the regular season finale Thursday (Mar. 1) at 7:00 p.m. at the Student Recreation Center.

VS THE HIGHLANDERS: UC Riverside leads the series with the UCI, 29-13.

In the first meeting of the year, UC Riverside held off UC Irvine for the 70-67 victory in Irvine.

The Anteaters tied the game at 60-60 with 4:46 remaining. A pair of free throws from Leah Washington put the Highlanders back on top, 64-63, with 2:22 remaining. UCR would never relinquish its lead again as a Riverside layup would be followed by a pair of free throws by Kassandra McCalister to keep the Highlander advantage at 66-65 with 1:06 left. Three straight free throws by UC Riverside was followed by a Kiara Belen layup with five seconds left to keep the UCR lead at 69-67. UCR would hit one-of-two from the free throw line with two seconds remaining for the final score 70-67 as a three-pointer from the Anteaters as time expired missed.

Jacquelyn Marshall with 16 points and six rebounds. Anete Klintsone had 14 points and seven rebounds followed by Kiara Belen and Kassandra McCalister with 11 points each. UC Riverside's Tre'Shonti Nottingham recorded a game-high 24 points. Natasha Hadley added 15 points, while Brittany Palmer had 14 points, and Leah Washington recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

UCI committed 23 turnovers and the Highlanders capitalized scoring 28 points off of Anteater miscues.

BATTLE FOR BIG WEST SEEDING: With one game left in the season for UCI, the Anteaters will have to sit back and wait for the final results Saturday to determine seeding for the Big West Tournament. The Anteaters enter the week in fifth place in the Big West with an 8-7 record. 

Cal Poly tops the league with an 11-3 record followed by Cal State Northridge at 10-5. UC Davis and Pacific are 8-6 and UC Santa Barbara is 7-7. Long Beach State is 6-9 against league opponents. Cal State Fullerton (4-10) is in the eighth spot, while UC Riverside is ninth (3-12) and cannot finish ahead of the Anteaters.

UC Davis and Pacific will host UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly to end the league slate, while Long Beach State faces Cal State Fullerton.

The Big West Tournament's first round is played at the top four seeds home courts on March 6. The winners advance to the Honda Center for the semifinals on Feb. 9.

EIGHT IS GREAT: UCI's eight Big West wins are the most since the Anteaters went 9-7 in 2002-03. The Anteaters finished fourth in the league that year. 

MCCALISTER LEADS: Senior guard Kassandra McCalister leads the team in scoring (13.7), three-pointers (39) and assists (4.0). She has posted more than 27 points on three occasions this season, including a career-best 36 versus UC Santa Barbara. She has two double-doubles and had a career-high 10 rebounds twice.  Versus Big West opponents, McCalister is averaging 15.9 points per game, which is second best in the conference.

MORE MCCALISTER: Kassandra McCalister is closing in on entering the season record books in assists and three-pointers. Currently she has 113 assists and is nine shy of 10th in the UCI single season records. Her 39 treys is three away from 10th.

BIG WEST STATS: UCI ranks second in field goal percentage (.405) and rebounding defense (37.1). The team is third in assists (13.64) and fourth in scoring offense (65.0), three-point field goal percentage (.304), offensive rebounds (14.75) and blocked shots (3.25). The Anteaters are last in the Big West in free throw percentage (.665) and field goal defense (.428).

ON THE RECORD: UCI is 12-16 overall, only the second time since the team went 17–12 in 2002-03 that the Anteaters have collected 10 or more wins. Last year, UCI was 15-15. The Anteaters are 7-6 at home, 3-10 on the road and 2-0 on neutral courts.

DOWN THE STRETCH: After winning five straight, UCI has dropped six of its last nine contests. UCI is 2-1 on the road and 2-4 at home during that span. 

UCI FALLS AT CAL STATE FULLERTON: UCI's bench scored 31 of the team's 44 points as the Anteaters lost 58-44 to Cal State Fullerton last week.

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. Sophomore forward Pernilla Hanson had six points, while freshman forward Methlyn Onogomuho added four points and a team-high five rebounds. UCI's top two scorers Kassandra McCalister and Jacquelyn Marshall 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.

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