Box Score Long Beach, Calif. – UC Irvine had 25 turnovers in a 67-49 loss to Long Beach State at the Walter Pyramid Saturday afternoon.
The Forty-Niners (21-7, 10-4) capitalized on the Anteater miscues, scoring 24 points off of UCI turnovers. The 25 mistakes were the second most this season by UCI. LBSU also used 11 three-pointers to put away UC Irvine (4-24, 1-13).
Jenny Dee came off the bench to lead UCI, recording a career-high 13 points, with three three-pointers. Tayla Jackson had nine points and a game-high nine rebounds, while Raelyn Chung-Sutton and Paulina Santana pitched in six points each. Mokun Fajemisin matched Jackson with the game-high nine boards.
Madison Montgomery scored 10 of her team-high 13 points in the first half to lead Long Beach State. Gigi Hascheff went 3-5 from beyond the arc to total 11 points. Raven Benton had nine points and a team-best eight rebounds.
Raelyn Cheung-Sutton recorded two quick layups to start the game forcing a Long Beach timeout at 8:54. The Beach then scored 10 unanswered before Tayla Jackson hit a free throw for the Anteaters at 6:10. A jumper by Mckenzie Piper at 1:01 was the lone UCI basket scored for the rest of the period as Long Beach State would hold a 23-7 lead at the end of the quarter.
Jenny Dee came off the bench and sparked the UCI offense with a pair of three pointers as the Anteaters won the quarter 13-11, but trailed 34-20 at the half.
A basket by Raelyn Cheung Sutton and Mokun Fajemisin cut the Long Beach lead to 40-27 at 5:38, but Gigi Hasceff came back down the floor for the Forty-Niners and drained a three-pointer to stop the momentum. A basket and two free throw by Dee brought the deficit to 12 (43-31)at 4:31, before LBSU would out-score the Anteaters 7-3 to close out the period to carry a 50-34 lead in to the fourth quarter.
Long Beach State would knock down four three-pointers in the first five minutes of the final period and extend the margin to 64-41.
UCI hosts league leading UC Riverside Thursday (Mar. 3) at 5:30 p.m. in the first game of a double-header at the Bren Events Center.
