Box Score San Luis Obispo, Calif. – Cal Poly's Molly Schlmer hit her second three-pointer of the season with 9.6 seconds to tie the game and send it in to overtime where the Mustangs beat UC Irvine 92-87 at Mott Gym Saturday.
UCI (14-14, 7-7) was led by seniors Kelly Meggs and Camille Buckley with 22 points, which was a season-high for Meggs. Buckley recorded her league-leading 15th double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds. Senior Vanessa Aguilar had 14 points and senior Lauren Spinazze tied her career-high with 12 points and pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds. Juniors Madison McKenney and Methlyn Onogomuho added six points and senior Jasmine Bernard had five points and six rebounds.
For the second consecutive game, UCI drained 10 three-pointers, which is a season-high, while Cal Poly knocked down 13 from long range. The Mustangs out-rebounded the Anteaters 61-43. The free throw line was busy as UCI was 25-34 (73.5%) and Cal Poly was 25-29 (86.2%).
Cal Poly (16-12, 10-5) was led by Jonae Ervin, Beth Balbierz and Kristen Ale with 17 points each. Molly Schlmer had 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Nwamaka Ofodu added 10 points and nine boards in the win.
The lead changed 12 times in the first half, the last at 41-41 with 1:10 left before the break. Vanessa Aguilar hit a pair of free throws and drove the baseline for a lay up to end the half with UCI leading 45-41. With starters in early foul trouble both benches carried the load of scoring with Cal Poly getting 23 points and UCI receiving 18 points from the bench in the first 20 minutes.
UCI held its largest lead of the game, 66-56 at 10:38 before the Mustangs rallied, going on a 13-2 run which included three long three-pointers by Beth Balbierz to give Cal Poly the 69-68 lead at 5:52. A three-pointer by Aguilar was followed by one of two free throws by Buckley to give the Anteaters the 82-79 advantage with 29 seconds remaining.
Molly Schlmer would drain the game tying three with 9.6 seconds on the clock, giving UCI one final possession, but a three at the buzzer would not fall and the teams would line up for five more minutes.
Balbierz hit two more threes to begin overtime giving the Mustangs an 88-84 lead with 3:40 to go. Buckley hit a shot and was fouled, making the free throw to narrow the deficit to 87-90 with 49.9 seconds to go. UCI would have the final possession with 12.1 seconds left but turned the ball over and had to foul Jonae Ervin who would connect on two free throws to close out the scoring. he Anteaters were 2-9 from the floor and Cal Poly was 2-7 from the field in the extra period. The Mustangs were 4-5 from the line.
The Anteaters will host Cal State Fullerton Thursday (Mar. 7) at 7:00 p.m. in the Bren Center, the team's final home game, UCI will honor its seven seniors prior to the game.
