DAVIS, Calif. - The UC Irvine women's basketball team suffered its second-straight loss for the first time this season, falling to UC Davis, 80-57, Saturday afternoon at The Pavilion.
 
The Anteaters, who have been battling through injuries over the last couple weeks, dropped to 12-4 overall and 2-2 in Big West games. The Aggies improved to 11-6 and 3-1 in conference.
 
"Everybody battles through injuries during the season and we just got hit with the bug last week," head coach Tamara Inoue said. "We're still recovering but that's never an excuse. Our style of play is obviously high intensity, and if we're a little slow it hurts us, but UC Davis ran their stuff tremendously well and hit some threes, so it was hard to come out of that."
 
Senior Andee Ritter and junior Brooke Bayman led UCI with 11 points each. Ritter added four rebounds and two steals. Sophomore Jordan Sanders finished with nine points, nine boards and two blocks, while junior Lauren Saiki had eight points, four assists and four steals.

Sophomore Dani Guglielmo contributed seven points on a 2-for-2 performance from beyond the arc, and classmate Tahlia Garza tied for the team lead with nine rebounds.
 
The 'Eaters struggled on the offensive end, shooting 30 percent overall, 25 percent from 3-point range and 58 percent at the free throw line. They did force 18 turnovers, while committing only nine of their own.
 
UC Davis set the tone on the opening possession as it knocked down a 3-pointer. Sophomore Tahlia Garza then got UC Irvine on the board at the 7:53 mark, but the Aggies responded with a 7-2 spurt to pull ahead, 10-4, with 3:54 on the clock. It went back-and-forth for the remainder of the first quarter with UCD taking an 18-11 lead.
 
The Anteaters struck first in the second period thanks to a pair of free throws from sophomore Alexus Seaton. UC Davis then scored six unanswered to go on top, 25-13, with 8:02 left to play. The 'Eaters fought back with a Sanders layup and a Ritter 3-pointer to make it a seven-point game just one minute later, but the Aggies closed out the half with a 15-3 run to open up a 43-23 advantage at the break.
 
UC Davis scored the first seven points of the third frame and continued to roll, going up 55-27 at the 6:35 mark. UCI started to rally as Bayman sparked a 9-2 spurt with six of her 11 points during that stretch, but UCD came right back with a triple. The 'Eaters were unable to get any closer, trailing by at least 21 the rest of the way.
 
Morgan Bertsch, the Big West's leading scorer, finished with a game-high 29 points (11-11 FT), five assists and three blocks. As a team, UC Davis went 53 percent from the field, 44 percent from long distance and a perfect 16-for-16 at the charity stripe.
 
UC Irvine returns to the friendly confines of the Bren Events Center next weekend, starting a four-game Big West homestand against Cal Poly on Saturday, Jan. 26. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
 
NOTES
• The Anteaters are on a two-game losing streak for the first time this season.
• The 'Eaters allowed 80 or more points in consecutive outings for the first time since Feb. 17-21, 2018.
• Brooke Bayman posted a season high in points for the second-straight contest.
• All of Bayman's 11 points came in the third quarter.
• Dani Guglielmo has knocked down two 3-pointers in each of the last three games.
• Yazzy Sa'Dullah extended her streak of consecutive free throws made to 11.
• Jordan Sanders, who missed the last game with an injury, did not reach double figures in scoring for the first time in 2018-19.
• Andee Ritter ranks second in program history with 181 career 3-pointers made and is seventh with 166 steals.
• She needs 18 more threes to break the all-time school record.
• Tahlia Garza moved into a tie for 10th in school history with her 57th career block.