EUGENE, Ore. - The UC Irvine women's basketball team was unable to keep up with seventh-ranked Oregon through 40 minutes as the Anteaters dropped a 115-69 decision Friday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena.
 
UCI (9-2) trailed by two after the first quarter and had the lead early in the second, but the Ducks' height and length proved to be too much to overcome.
 
"I thought we came out, played loose and went after them," head coach Tamara Inoue said. "We didn't worry about who we were playing, we just played our game and really took it to them. Toward the end of the second quarter we gave up some threes which got us down a little bit, but we did a good job of coming out and playing hard.
 
"The biggest thing for us is learning how to play smart. Any mistake you make against this team, they make you pay, and that's what happened today. We have to play almost a perfect game against teams like this and we didn't do that."
 
The 'Eaters finished with 18 assists against a season-low five turnovers. They shot 33 percent from the field and 30 percent from 3-point territory.
 
Sophomore Jordan Sanders had a team-high 15 points, while senior Andee Ritter finished with 14 points (4-9 3FG), four rebounds and three assists. Junior Lauren Saiki also registered 11 points and five assists.
 
Sophomore Haleigh Talbert contributed nine points and a team-best six rebounds, and classmate Alexus Seaton added five points and five boards.
 
Oregon (11-1) got on the board first, but Sanders converted an and-one on the other end to give UC Irvine an early lead. The Ducks then outscored the 'Eaters by 11, over the next six-plus minutes to pull ahead, 26-16, at the 1:39 mark. The Anteaters responded with an impressive rally as they closed out the first quarter on a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 28-26.
 
UCI held UO scoreless over the first three minutes of the second period and Ritter knocked down a 3-pointer to give the visitors a 29-28 edge. Oregon answered with back-to-back buckets, but Ritter's third triple of the afternoon tied it up at 32-32. The two teams then traded points before the Ducks went on a 17-6 run to go up, 51-40, at halftime.
 
Oregon came out firing after the break, starting the third frame on a 12-2 spurt to go on top, 63-42, at the 7:10 mark. Saiki answered with a three but the Ducks would extend their advantage to 84-50 at the end of the quarter. UO didn't let up in the fourth as it emerged with the 115-69 victory.
 
Oregon, which is tops in the nation in scoring offense, shot 64 percent overall and was 11-of-23 from beyond the arc. The Ducks were led by Satou Sabally and Ruthy Hebard, who had 27 and 23 points, respectively. Hebard added a game-high 15 rebounds.
 
Sabrina Ionescu, who broke an NCAA record for both men and women with her 13th career triple-double against Air Force yesterday, had another one today with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists.
 
UC Irvine will take a week off before returning to the Bren Events Center to close out its non-conference schedule against Seattle on Saturday, Dec. 29. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
 
NOTES
• This was the eighth time the Anteaters have played a top-10 team, and Oregon was their first ranked opponent since Arizona State in 2006.
• The 'Eaters finished their seven-day road trip with a 2-1 record as they defeated Portland and Portland State earlier in the week.
• This was the third game in a row that Jordan Sanders, Andee Ritter and Lauren Saiki all reached double figures in scoring.
• Andee Ritter had her fourth-straight outing with at least four triples.
• She increased her career total to 178, putting her just 21 away from breaking UCI's all-time record.
• Lauren Saiki has finished with 5+ assists in each of the last seven contests.
• Jordan Sanders extended her streak of consecutive double-figure scoring games to 11.