Box Score Irvine, Calif. – Pepperdine spoiled UC Irvine's home opener with a 76-53 victory over the Anteaters in a non-conference game at the Bren Center Wednesday night.
The Anteaters fall to 1-2, while the Waves even their record at 1-1.
Jenny Dee led UCI with 11 points in 11 minutes off the bench. Madison McKenney recorded nine points, five rebounds and two steals followed by Brittany Glassow and Chloe Kellum with eight points each. Methlyn Onogomuho grabbed a season-high eight rebounds and Raelyn Cheung-Sutton had a career-high seven assists to top the squad.
UCI out-rebounded Pepperdine, 44-41, but struggled again from three-point distance, going 2-16. The Waves knocked down five treys and shot 25-31 (80.6%) from the free throw line. Pepperdine shot 41.8 percent (23-55) from the floor, while UCI hit 20-61 (32.8%) from the field.
A trio of Waves, Allie Green (20), Bria Richardson (19) and Keitra Wallace (13) all recorded double-digit scoring to pace Pepperdine. Green also pulled down a team-best seven rebounds.
Pepperdine scored six unanswered to take a 15-8 lead with 13:30 to go in the first half and used another 6-0 spurt to open a 31-20 advantage at 3:48. The Waves would hold a 36-27 lead at halftime.
UCI would close to 39-33 on a Methlyn Onogomuho jumper at 18:03, but Pepperdine responded, out-scoring the Anteaters 12-2 to extend the lead to 51-35 with 12:58 remaining. UCI would get no closer than 10 points the rest of the contest.
UCI will battle San Jose State Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in the Bren Events Center.
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