Box Score

Riverside, Calif. – UC Irvine opened Big West play with a 93-69 loss to UC Riverside at the SRC Arena Thursday.

UCI (3-12, 0-1) was led by forward Mckenzie Piper's career-high points, going 8-13 from the floor in 26 minutes. Forward Mokun Fajemisin had 12 points, while guard Raelyn Cheung-Sutton added nine points and a game-high nine assists. Forward Shereen Sutherland also had nine points off the bench.

The Highlanders (8-7, 1-0) shot 51.4 percent from the floor (37-72), 90% from the line (9-10) and 47.6% from three-point distance, while UCI shot 40.9 from the field (27-66), 50% from the line (11-22) and 28.6% from three. UCI out-rebounded UCR 40-39.

Brittany Crain, who leads the Big West in three-pointers, drained 4-8 from long-range and had a game-high 28 points for Riverside. Annelise Ito recorded a double-double with 18 points and game-high 13 rebounds. She also fired six assists. Clemence Lefebvre went 7-14 for 17 points and Simone DeCoud had 12 points. The Big West leading scorer Rejane Verin was held to 10 points, all scored in the second half.

To start the game, a Raelyn Cheung-Sutton three-pointer gave UCI a 5-4 lead before UC Riverside would score 12 in a row and open a 16-5 lead at 4:52. The Highlanders would hold a 32-13 advantage at the end of the first period.

The Anteater offense would heat up in the second period. To begin the quarter, UCI out-scored the Highlanders 8-2 capped by a Brittany Glassow long two-pointer at 7:15 to narrow the gap to 34-21. UCI would out-score UCR for the period, 19-17, but head in to the intermission trailing 49-32.

Mckenzie Piper would score nine points and Shereen Sutherland would have six in the third quarter, but that was almost all of the Anteater offense as the Highlanders held a 25-18 advantage in the period and owned a 74-50 lead heading in to the final 10 minutes. The teams were deadlocked 19-19 in the final quarter.

After six games on the road, UCI will return to the Bren Events Center Saturday (Sat. 9) to host Cal Poly at 2:00 p.m.