Box Score Irvine, Calif. – Guard Jennifer Tsurumoto recorded a career-high 31 points as UC Irvine picked up its first Big West Conference win with a 90-78 victory over UC Riverside in front of a season-high crowd of 1,343 at the Bren Center Saturday.
UC Irvine evened its overall record at 8-8 and Big West mark at 1-1 and remain undefeated at home (4-0) this season. It is the third time this year that the Anteaters have posted 90 points or more. The Highlanders fall to 4-11 on the year and 0-2 in the Big West.
Tsurumoto bettered her 30-point career-high that she set on Thursday with a 31-point performance, shooting 8-14 from the field, including three three-pointers. She went 12-13 from the line, snapping her streak of 28 consecutive free throws with her one miss. The senior guard also recorded five rebounds, four assists and three steals in 35 minutes of action.
UCI senior forward Camille Buckley added 16 points, while junior forward Methlyn Onogomuho had 14 points and a team-best eight rebounds. Senior Kelly Meggs tallied nine points and six rebounds and senior guard Vanessa Aguilar had seven points in nine minutes of playing time. Guard Madison McKenney totaled six points, Lauren Spinazze had five points, four assists and three steals and Jasmine Bernard rounded out the scoring with two points.
UCI shot 46.9 percent (30-64) from the field, the third best shooting night of the year. The Anteaters shot 46.7 from long distance (7-15) and 76.7 percent from the line (23-30). UC Riverside shot a blistering 51.6 percent from the floor (32-62), but went 3-14 (.214) from three-point range. The Highlanders held a 37-30 rebounding advantage, but committed 22 turnovers to UCI's 11.
UC Riverside was led by the league's leading scorer, Brittany Crain with 22 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Annelise Ito recorded 18 points, while Jamila Williams had 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
UCI started with an early 9-4 advantage, but the Highlanders would score the next six to take a 10-9 lead at 15:16. UCI then went on a 15-2 run to open a 24-12 lead on a Vanessa Aguilar jumper at 11:58. UCI held its largest lead of 13 (46-33) at1:59 before Riverside's Brittany Crain scored the final six points of the half to narrow the Anteaters margin to 46-39 at the break.
Scoring was slow out of the locker room with the Anteaters recording the lone point of the half until Camille Buckley hit a jumper at 16:33. Buckley's basket triggered a 20-6 run, which included 10 points by Tsurumoto to open a 67-45 gap with 11:11 to play. UCR would score 10 unanswered to close within 67-53 at 8:58, but the Anteaters scored the next six and built back the lead to 73-53 at 8:11. The Highlanders would only get as close as the final score, 90-78.
UCI returns to the road next week, traveling to Cal State Fullerton Thursday (Jan. 16) at Titan Gym. Tip-off is 7:00 p.m.
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