Box Score Irvine, Calif. – UC Irvine senior Jennifer Tsurumoto went 8-8 from the free throw line in the final 43 seconds to secure a 78-72 victory over Cal State Fullerton at the Bren Center Thursday.
UCI seniors dominated in their final home game with Tsurumoto leading the team with 20 points, going 10-12 from the line and firing a career-high seven assists.
Senior forward Camille Buckley recorded her league-leading 16th double-double with 19 points and 24 rebounds, just two shy of her own school record. Buckley went 9-11 from the floor and grabbed 17 defensive rebounds.
Senior guard Kelly Meggs totaled 18 points, knocking down a career-high six three-pointers.
Senior Jasmine Bernard totaled 13 points, shooting 6-12 from the field. Junior Methlyn Onogomuho added six points, seven rebounds and five assists, while senior forward Lauren Spinazze had two points and four rebounds.
"Early on, the emotion of the introductions and watching those seven young ladies play their last game was a little too much for us," UCI head coach Doug Oliver said. "When we started the game, we were still caught up with that raw emotion and it affected our execution offensively and defensively we were standing too much. Once we made a few substitutions and started to play our style of basketball we were okay. I don't think we played our best game, but it was good enough to beat a team that we were tied with and the win puts us in a hunt for a fourth place finish which would be huge for this team."
UCI shot 45.9 percent (28-61) from the floor, but just 56 percent (14-25) from the free throw line. The Anteaters out-rebounded the Titans 46-36. Fullerton capitalized on 13 UCI turnovers, scoring 18 points on miscues.
Cal State Fullerton was led by Samantha Logans's game-high 21 points, draining 7-10 three-pointers and recording a team-best nine rebounds. Kathleen Iwuoha had 18 points and eight rebounds and Alex Thomas totaled 16 points and five assists. Chante Miles had nine points to go with nine assists.
The Anteaters started running the floor in transition and Jasmine Bernard recorded consecutive baskets to give UCI a 28-23 gap at 2:28. Another Bernard basket at 1:19 gave UCI its largest lead of the half, 32-26. A Samantha Logan three-pointer for Fullerton with 10 seconds left rounded out the scoring as UCI held a 32-29 advantage at intermission.
UCI led 65-63 with 1:55 left before a basket by Camille Buckley and a free throw by Bernard gave the Anteaters a 68-63 lead with 58 seconds remaining. A three-pointer by Logan narrowed the advantage to 68-66 (:48), but the Anteaters would use the first two of Tsurumoto's clutch free throws, a layup by Buckley and two more Tsurumoto free throws to extend the lead to 74-66 with 20 seconds left. Logan and Brianna Barfield would keep the Titans alive with three-pointers, but after every Fullerton trey, Tsurumoto would hit two more free throws until the last went through the net with 11 ticks remaining.
The Anteaters improve to 15-14 overall and 8-7 in the Big West, while the Titans go to 11-17 onteh year and 7-8 in the Big West.
UCI will travel to UC Davis Saturday (Mar. 8) for the final regular season home game beginning at 2:00 p.m. in The Pavilion.
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