Box Score Irvine, Calif. – UC Irvine held off South Dakota, 68-64 in the season opener at the Bren Center Sunday.
It is the first time since beating Centenary 72-56 on Nov. 25, 2002 that the Anteaters have won the season opener.
UC Irvine had a balanced scoring attack led by senior forward Camille Buckley who had 15 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Jennifer Tsurumoto added 11 points and senior guard Vanessa Aguliar had a career-high 10 points on 4-6 shooting which included a pair of three-pointers. Senior guard Kelly Meggs recorded eight points, while junior guard Madison McKenney added seven points in her Anteater debut and sophomore Mokun Fajemisin had six points, four rebounds and four blocks.
The Anteaters shot 32.8 percent (21-64) from the floor and 71.4 percent (20-28) from the free throw line. UCI went 6-22 from three-point distance.
South Dakota's Nicole Seekamp led all players with 20 points, going 5-15 from the field and 9-10 from the free throw line. She also collected five rebounds and four steals. Lisa Loeffler and Tia Hemiller each added nine points with Hemiller grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.
The Coyotes shot 25.9 percent (14-54) from the floor and 78.6 (33-42) from the free throw line. South Dakota was 21-26 (.807) from the charity stripe in the second half. South Dakota had 26 turnovers which resulted in 31 UCI points. South Dakota dominated the boards, out-rebounding UCI 52-37.
South Dakota started out with a quick 8-0 lead, which included three-pointers by Nicole Seekamp and Lisa Loefler. UCI scored its first basket underneath by Jazmyne White at 17:05. A basket by Mokun Fajemisin followed to narrow the Anteater deficit to 8-4. UCI would out-score the Coyotes 10-4 and take a 14-12 lead at 11:00 on back-to-back three-pointers by Vanessa Aguilar. Another three-pointer by Irene Chavez gave UCI a 27-21 lead with 3:42 remaining before South Dakota recorded three consecutive free throws to narrow the margin to 27-24 at 1:50. Jennifer Tsurumoto threw up a leaning baseline jumper as time expired to give UCI the 29-24 halftime lead.
South Dakota started the half with an 8-3 run to knot the score at 32-32 on a Raeshel Contreras free throw at 14:53. The Anteaters responded with the next six points, including four by Camille Buckley to extend the lead back to 38-32 at 13:45. South Dakota trailed by four (49-45) before a technical on the Coyote bench allowed Kelly Meggs to record two free throws which was followed by a basket by Jazmyne White to give UCI the 53-45 lead. With UCI holding a 63-51 advantage, South Dakota rallied scoring 10 unanswered to close within 63-61 with 1:52 remaining. Tsurumoto hit two free throws and after the Coyotes turned the ball over Camille Buckley hit two more free throws to put UCI ahead 67-61 at 1:18. A layup by Seekamp and a free throw by Heidi Hoff brought the score to 67-64 with 15 seconds left. Meggs was fouled and made the second of two free throws with 12 seconds remaining. South Dakota missed a three pointer before time ran out.
UCI will travel to Pepperdine Thursday (Nov. 14) and Nevada Sunday (Nov. 17).
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