LONG BEACH, Calif. - The UC Irvine women's basketball team fell to Cal Poly, 70-49, in the Big West Tournament quarterfinals Wednesday evening at the Walter Pyramid.
 
The Anteaters (13-18) struggled on the offensive end, shooting 27% overall and scoring fewer than 50 points for only the second time this year. They had entered tonight with a Big West-leading 65.6 ppg against conference opponents.
 
"I thought the shots we took were good, they just weren't falling," head coach Tamara Inoue said. "We might have hung our heads a little more and Cal Poly just kept coming at us. Usually, what we did this past month is if we weren't shooting well in the beginning, we would stop them on defense, but today we let them get hot early."
 
This year, the 'Eaters saw four players go down with season-ending injuries, but they continued to battle and picked up steam down the stretch, going 8-2 since Feb. 1. Their late push moved them into a tie for second in the league standings, marking their best finish since 1997-98.
 
"The season wasn't what we expected," senior Lauren Saiki said. "We were picked to finish first in the preseason polls, but we were hit by a lot this year. I'm so proud of how our team responded and never stopped fighting."

BY THE NUMBERS: Freshman Jayde Cadee went 6-for-13 from downtown for a team-high 18 points. Five of her triples came in the fourth quarter. Junior Tahlia Garza also pulled down a career-best 13 rebounds.
 
Senior Lauren Saiki added seven points and five assists, while junior Haleigh Talbert had nine points. Freshman Sophia Locandro chipped in seven points and four rebounds.
 
Abbey Ellis led Cal Poly with a game-high 30 points.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: UC Irvine started the game 2-of-9 from the field, allowing Cal Poly to take a 12-4 lead at the 4:32 mark. Locandro then hit a jumper out of the media timeout, and the two teams traded buckets over the next minute before the Mustangs scored five unanswered to pull ahead, 22-11, with 2:26 remaining. The Anteaters held CP scoreless down the stretch, while Cadee and junior Dani Guglielmo each knocked down a 3-pointer to close the gap to 22-17.
 
The offensive struggles continued for the 'Eaters in the second quarter as they were held to five points on 15% shooting. Both teams got out to a slow start, but Cal Poly eventually closed the period with an 11-4 spurt to go up, 35-22, at the half.
 
Locandro, who did not play in the second quarter after picking up two early fouls, started the third frame with a couple layups to cut the deficit to single digits (35-26). The Mustangs came right back with a three and carried the momentum into a 17-4 run to break open a 52-30 advantage.
 
Despite five threes from Cadee over the final six minutes of the fourth, UCI was unable to dig itself out of the hole.
 
Cal Poly (11-18) advances to Friday's semifinal where it will face top-seeded UC Davis.


NOTES
• The Big West Tournament is being played without spectators as a precaution for preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
• UC Irvine suffered its first loss to Cal Poly since January 2018.
• The Anteaters were making their third appearance in the Big West quarterfinals in fourth-year head coach Tamara Inoue's tenure.
• Jayde Cadee tied a UC Irvine Big West Tournament record with six triples.
• She extended her streak of games played with a 3-pointer made to nine.
• Lauren Saiki finished her career at No. 2 in program history with 447 assists in only three years.
• Saiki also concluded the 2019-20 campaign with a single-season school-record 215 assists.
• Her 6.9 assists per game rank third in the nation.
• Tahlia Garza's 13 rebounds were the most by an 'Eater this year.
• She averaged 8.3 boards over the Anteaters' last four games.