DAVIS, Calif. – The UC Irvine women's basketball team held Big West-leading UC Davis to just 17 total points in the second and third quarters, but the Aggies were able to ride a strong start and finish to a 62-42 victory Saturday at The Pavilion.
Sophomore Andee Ritter led the 'Eaters with 16 points, five rebounds and four steals, while freshman Brooke Bayman added 10 points and six assists with no turnovers. Seniors Mckenzie Piper and Brittany Glassow each finished with a team-high seven rebounds.
UC Davis (18-6, 9-2 Big West) raced out to a 19-0 lead at the 3:57 mark. Senior Shereen Sutherland then got UC Irvine on the board with back-to-back layups but that was all the Anteaters could muster as they trailed 29-4 at the end of the first period.
UCI (3-21, 1-9 Big West) turned it around in the second quarter where it outscored the Aggies, 19-8. Ritter led the way with 11 points on a 3-for-6 performance from long distance. After UCD got the first bucket to push its advantage to 27, the 'Eaters responded with an 8-0 spurt, capped by consecutive triples from Ritter and senior Irene Chavez, to make it 31-12 with 7:02 to play. UC Davis went back on top by 20 before UC Irvine closed out the half with a pair of Ritter 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 14 (37-23).
The Anteaters continued to chip away in the third frame, using a 12-2 rally that ended with a trey from Ritter, to make it a nine-point game at 44-35. The Aggies would get the final bucket of the period for a 46-35 advantage.
UCD opened the fourth with its first 3-pointer since the first quarter, and continued on a 14-2 run to pull ahead 60-37 at the 5:05 mark. UC Davis eventually emerged with the 62-42 win.
UCI held its own in the second and third quarters where it limited the Aggies to 17 points and 26 percent shooting. Davis was also 0-for-10 from beyond the arc during that stretch.
Dani Nafekh led UC Davis with a game-high 20 points, 10 of which came in the fourth period. Morgan Bertsch added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
UC Irvine stays on the road next week as it heads to CSUN for a 7 p.m. showdown on Thursday, Feb. 16.
NOTES: Andee Ritter now has a Big West-leading 70 3-pointers, making her the first 'Eater in program history to knock down at least 70 threes in a season … Ritter also cracked the top-10 in single-season steals as she moved into a tie for ninth with 56 … Brooke Bayman had her fourth double-figure scoring game … She also had her eighth outing with at least five assists, and increased her team-high total to 93 (4.2/gm) … Mckenzie Piper pulled down a season-best seven rebounds.
