Box Score Fullerton, Calif. – Shereen Sutherland's career-high 21 points was not enough as UC Davis took down UC Irvine 80-71 in the first round of the Big West Tournament at Titan Gym.
The Anteaters end the season 8-24 overall, while UC Davis snaps a five-game losing streak and goes to 14-15 on the year.
Sutherland led four Anteaters with double-figure points, hitting 9-13 from the floor and adding six rebounds. Senior Madison McKenney ended her career with a season-high 15 points, while sophomores Irene Chavez and Mokun Fajemisin each had 11 points. Fajemisin led all players with eight rebounds. Junior guard Raelyn Cheung-Sutton had seven points and a team-best six assists.
The Aggies shot 58.8 percent (30-51) from the floor for the game, knocking down 10-18 from long distance. UCI went 27-61 from the floor (44.3%) and 5-10 from beyond the arc.
UC Davis was led by Rachel Nagel's career-high 20 points, draining 4-8 from three-point range. She also grabbed a team-best five rebounds. Alyson Doherty recorded 12 points and seven assists followed by Kelsey Harris with 11 points, on a perfect 4-4 from the field, including three three-pointers.
UCI's offense was clicking early as they would hold a 19-12 advantage on a pair of Madison McKenney free throws. The Anteaters would continue to lead 23-18 with 11:06 to go in the first half before UCI went scoreless for five minutes and the Aggies went on a roll, out-scoring the Anteaters 24-3, hitting six consecutive three-pointers to take control 42-26 at 2:04.
UCD would hold a 48-30 lead at the break and extend the margin to 55-32 at 17:31 on a Rachel Nagel jumper. A 6-0 run by UCI narrowed the score to 77-68 with 1:26 to play, but Davis answered with three points by Dani Nafekh to bring the gap back to 12 with 46 seconds left to play.
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