IRVINE, Calif. – A short-handed UC Irvine women's basketball team was unable to keep up with UC Santa Barbara in an 85-60 loss Saturday afternoon at the Bren Events Center.
UCI (3-18, 1-6 Big West) was without two starters due to injury and had only three players come off the bench after playing at Hawai'i less than 48 hours before today's game against UCSB.
The 'Eaters shot 38.8 percent from the floor and were 18-of-23 from the free throw line, but were outdone by the Gauchos who registered a 55.4 field goal percentage and went 15-of-30 from behind the arc.
"They shot really well and you have to pick your poison – they have a lot of weapons," head coach Tamara Inoue said. "I thought we did a good job on Drew (Edelman), but we just let too many easy ones go on the outside and it's hard to catch up to that."
Senior Shereen Sutherland paced the Anteaters as she made a career-best 10 free throws and went 5-for-11 from the field to finish with 20 points. Sutherland added five rebounds and four steals. Senior Mckenzie Piper notched her second-straight double-figure scoring game with 13 points to go along with a season-high six boards. Senior Irene Chavez contributed seven points, three assists and three steals, while senior Brittany Glassow had six points and six rebounds.
UC Santa Barbara (10-10, 5-2 Big West) got off to a hot start, making its first five field goal attempts, four of which came from behind the arc. The Gauchos kept the momentum and eventually hit their seventh 3-pointer to take a 23-7 lead at the 2:01 mark. UC Irvine responded with a couple free throws by sophomore Andee Ritter and a Sutherland layup to close the gap to 23-11 at the end of the quarter.
The visitors began the second frame on a 9-2 run to pull ahead, 32-13, with 6:18 to go. Piper answered with her second three of the game, but UCSB proceeded to outscore the 'Eaters, 14-5, over the next five minutes to open up a 25-point advantage. Senior Brittany Glassow ended the half with a triple as UCI trailed, 46-24, at the break.
The two teams traded buckets early in the third quarter before a Sutherland layup, followed by a jumper from Piper made it a 20-point game with 8:18 on the clock. The Gauchos then came right back with 10 unanswered for their largest lead at 60-30. The Anteaters continued to fight in the second half as Sutherland opened the fourth period with five-straight points to cut the deficit to 24, but they were unable to get any closer in the 85-60 setback.
Freshman Aliceah Hernandez led the charge for UC Santa Barbara as she was 7-of-10 from long distance for a season-high 21 points. Sophomore Sarah Porter also finished with 15 points (5-8 3FG). The 'Eaters held Drew Edelman, a 6-foot-4 junior transfer from USC, to eight points and five rebounds.
UC Irvine returns to the Bren Events Center on Saturday, Feb. 4, when it hosts Long Beach State at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
NOTES: Shereen Sutherland now has three 20-point games this year and four in her career … She extended her streak of consecutive free throws made to 12 before her only miss of the day at the 4:23 mark of the third quarter … Andee Ritter was held without a 3-pointer for only the second time this season … She needs seven more to break a 28-year old single-game school record of 64 … Mckenzie Piper is averaging 14.0 points, while shooting over 50 percent from the field and from 3-point range over the last two games … The 'Eaters had 13 steals, marking their seventh outing this season with at least 10 takeaways.
