Box Score Los Angeles, Calif. – UC Irvine slipped past Loyola Marymount, 63-60 at the LA Westside Thanksgiving Classic held at Gersten Pavilion Friday afternoon.
The Anteaters improve to 4-2 overall and will play North Dakota State in the championship game tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. The Bison defeated Montana, 70-53 in the first game tonight. LMU drops to 1-5 on the year.
UCI was led by junior Methlyn Onogomuho and senior Jennifer Tsurumoto with 16 points each. Onogomuho tied her career-high in points, going 8-12 from the field. She also grabbed a season-high nine rebounds. Tsurumoto knocked down three three-pointers and tied her career-best with five assists. Forward Camille Buckley recorded her third double-double of the year with 14 points and a season-high 16 rebounds. The senior added three assists, two blocks and two steals in the win. Junior Madison McKenney totaled five points and three assists, while senior Jasmine Bernard had four points. Seniors Lauren Spinazze and Vanessa Aguilar recorded three points apiece and Kelly Meggs had two points and four assists. Senior Jazmyne White pulled down five rebounds and sophomore Mokun Fajemisin had four boards in the win.
The Anteaters dominated the glass, out-rebounding LMU 52-36. UCI had a season-high 26 turnovers, which resulted in 21 points for the Lions. UCI was solid again from the free throw line, shooting 90 percent (9-10) and was 24-62 (38.7%) from the floor. Both teams hit six three-pointers.
Sophie Taylor came off the bench and recorded 16 points in 19 minutes to lead Loyola Marymount. Deanna Johnson had 11 points followed by Emily Ben-Jumbo with 10 points.
UCI jumped out to an early 7-2 lead and went on a 14-4 run to extend the gap to 24-12 on a Methlyn Onogomuho layup at 10:54. Onogomuho had all eight of her first half points in the run. A bucket by Camille Buckley ended the first half scoring, giving the Anteaters a 33-23 lead at the break.
The Anteaters started slowly in the second half until a Madison McKenney three-pointer was followed by a streaking layup by Onogomuho to give UCI it's largest lead, 40-27, with 15:20 remaining. UCI continued to lead 47-35 with 11:14 left before the Lions out-scored UCI, 12-2, to close within 49-47 at 8:11. Following two free throws by Buckley, LMU would score 10 straight points, the last a three-pointer by Sophie Taylor at 4:34 to put the Lions ahead 57-51. A layup by Buckley was followed by a three-pointer by Jennifer Tsurumoto to narrow the deficit to 57-56 at 2:12. On the next trip down the floor, LMU missed four shots and UCI had three rebounds but turned the ball over three times to give LMU extra opportunities which finally resulted in Emily Ben-Jumbo going to the free throw line where she made one of two to make the score, 58-56 with 1:18 left. A layup by Onogomuho proceeded a layup by Tsurumoto to tie the game at 58 all with 1:05 remaining. Tsurumoto then drove up the left side of the court and laid the ball in and was fouled with 32.7 on the clock. After she made the free throw (61-58), Taylor would hit a two-pointer just inside the arc (61-60) at 19.4. Following a long video replay discussion to confirm the two-pointer an inbound pass to Tsurumoto was taken up the court and dumped off to Buckley who was fouled under the basket. Buckley would convert both free throws to give the Anteaters the 63-60 advantage with 14 ticks on the clocks. Onogomuho almost intercepted a pass with 2.9 left but lost it out of bounds giving Loyola Marymount one last chance. Hazel Rameriz slipped a defender and missed an open three-pointer at the buzzer to end the game.
UCI's 4-2 start is the best since 2002-03 when the squad began the year 5-1.
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