Box Score Santa Barbara, Calif. – UC Irvine picked up its first Big West Conference win with a 61-58 victory over UC Santa Barbara on the road at the Thunderdome.
The Anteaters (4-17, 1-5) had a solid team effort with four players scoring in double figures.
Forward Shereen Sutherland was one rebound shy of a double-double with a team-best 16 points and nine rebounds. The sophomore went 6-11 from the floor.
Sophomore forward Mokun Fajemisin tied her career-high with 15 rebounds to go with 14 points, her fourth double-double of the year. She also swatted four blocks, which moves her in to ninth place on the UCI career blocks list (58).
Senior forward Methlyn Onogomuho played all 40 minutes and recorded her ninth career double-double on 14 points and 10 rebounds. Onogomuho has five double-doubles on the year which is tied for the most by a Big West player. She scored 11 of her points in the second half.
Senior guard Madison McKenney was a spark off the bench, recording 11 points on 4-8 shooting. She made two big three-pointers and shared the team lead with four assists.
Raelyn Cheung-Sutton, Irene Chavez and Brittany Glassow all pitched in two points apiece.
UCSB, who is still looking for their first win of the year (0-19, 0-6), was led by Jasmine Ware's game-high 21 points. She was the lone Gaucho in double-figure scoring followed by Dioseline Lopez (9), Clair Watkins (8) and Onome Jemerigbe (7). Kristine Brance had a team-high eight rebounds.
UCI shot 39.3 percent (24-61) from the field and just 44.0 percent from the free throw line (11-25). The Anteaters out-rebounded UCSB 44-42. The Gauchos shot slightly better from the floor at 39.7 percent (23-58) and were 10-17 from the line (.588).
The Anteaters scored 19 points on 13 UCSB turnovers and capitalized on second chances, scoring 17 points on offensive rebounds.
A free throw by Mokun Fajemisin put the Anteaters on top, 14-8 with 8:35 remaining in the first period. UCI then helped the Gauchos by putting them at the line for six points during UCSB's 10-4 run that gave the Gauchos their first lead of the game 18-17 at 5:56. The teams would be tied 20-20 at 3:30 and UCI would out-score UCSB 9-3 to end the half holding a 29-23 advantage.
A McKenney rebound put-back capped a 9-0 UCI run to give the Anteaters a 48-38 advantage at 8:27. UCSB responded with a 9-2 spurt to close within 50-47, but the Anteaters returned the favor, out-scoring the Gauchos, 7-2 to open a 57-49 lead with 1:02 to go. UCSB wouldn't go away scoring the next five points to make it interesting at 57-54 with 28 second left. Methlyn Onogomuho hit two big free throws at 25 seconds before UCSB missed two three-point attempts and having to foul McKenney who made the first of two free throws with 12 seconds on the clock (60-54). The Gauchos were forced to foul again after scoring a layup and Shereen Sutherland made one of two. UCSB's Jasmine Ware closed out the scoring as the buzzer sounded, 61-58.
UCI will travel to Cal Poly Saturday (Jan. 31) for a 4:00 p.m. game at Mott Gym.
