Box Score San Luis Obispo, Calif. – UC Irvine was outscored 49-14 in the second half in a 76-36 loss to Cal Poly at Mott Gym Thursday.
UC Irvine's 36 points was a season-low and the fewest points since UCI scored 24 in a loss to UC Davis on Feb. 12, 2009. The 40-point loss is the largest since Arizona State beat the Anteaters, 75-23 on Dec. 6, 2008. The Anteaters' 14 second half points is also a season-low for a half.
Forward Camille Buckley led UCI with 10 points and nine rebounds followed by guard Anete Klintsone with nine points. Forward Jasmine Bernard had seven points, while forward Pernilla hanson added six points and guard Jennifer Tsurumoto recorded six rebounds.
Cal Poly's Ariana Elegado led all players with 20 points, going 4-6 from three-point range and 8-8 from the free throw line. Molly Schlemer was 9-13 from the floor for 18 points to go with nine rebounds. Nikol Allison totaled eight points and nine rebounds and Caroline Reeves had seven points.
Cal Poly (19-9, 13-4) shot 56.7 percent (17-30) from the field in the second half and 48.3 percent (28-58) for the game. UCI (9-20, 5-12) shot 16.7 percent (4-24) in the final 20 minutes and 22.4 percent (11-49) overall. The Mustangs controlled the boards, out-rebounding UCI 46-25. The Anteaters were 1-17 from beyond the arc, while the Mustangs hit 6-11 from downtown.
Cal Poly hit a three-pointer on the first three possessions and built an 11-0 lead before Jasmine Bernard had the Anteaters' first bucket at 16:25. Cal Poly held its largest lead of 19-3 and continued to lead 20-5 at 11:24, but only recorded a three-pointer by Ariana Elegado in the next nine minutes to let UCI chip away at the lead to close within 23-20 on a pair of Anete Klintsone free throws with 2:35 remaining. The Mustangs would out-score UCI 4-2 to end the half with a 27-22 advantage.
Camille Buckley would score the first points of the second half, but Cal Poly would score the next six to go ahead 33-24 on Molly Schlemer basket down low at 17:20. The Mustangs would out-score the Anteaters 21-6, which included 10 points by Schlemer to spread the margin to 54-30 with 8:33 left. After Bernard hit a basket at 14:04, UCI would only score six points, four on Klintsone free throws and two on Raelyn Cheung-Sutton's first collegiate basket the rest of the game.
UCI will close out the regular-season at UC Santa Barbara Saturday (Feb. 9) at 2:00 p.m.
