IRVINE, Calif. – The UC Irvine women's basketball team closed out the UCI Thanksgiving Classic with a 58-51 win over Sacramento State Sunday at the Bren Events Center.
 
The Anteaters went 2-0 on the weekend and improved to 4-2 overall. Kayla Williams and Tara Dusharm were both named to the all-tournament team.
 
The 'Eaters got out to a strong start against the Hornets, which was sparked by Naomi Hunt's 10 first-quarter points. They never looked back from there, leading for all but 34 seconds of the game.
 
"Naomi came out and did a really good job for us," head coach Tamara Inoue said. "I know she shot well, but really her defense was tremendous and that's what started everything. We've been challenging our starters to start better, and I thought they did a good job of doing that today."
 
BY THE NUMBERS: Hunt led UCI with a season-high 17 points and a career-best 12 rebounds. She went 6-for-12 from the field with three triples. Kayla Williams added 10 points, four assists, three boards and two steals, while Tara Dusharm also had nine points and two rebounds.
 
The Anteaters shot 41% overall and held the Hornets to 34%. They also won the battle in rebounding (38-34), turnovers forced (13-12), points off turnovers (16-10) and bench points (18-0).
 
Lianna Tillman paced Sac State with 16 points and six assists, while Isnelle Natabou (10 points, 13 rebounds) and Summer Menke (11 points, 10 rebounds) each had a double-double.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: Sacramento State (3-4) struck first, but Hunt answered with seven-straight points to put UC Irvine up by five at the 7:39 mark. The two teams went back-and-forth over the next three minutes before Hunt's second triple, followed by a fastbreak layup from Williams gave the Anteaters a 17-7 lead with 2:01 remaining. Sac State got the final bucket of the first quarter to close the gap to single digits (17-9).
 
Sacramento State kept the momentum early in the second period with back-to-back layups making it 17-13. Williams then hit a 3-pointer out of a UCI timeout, but the Hornets responded with a 9-4 spurt, cutting the deficit to 22-18 with just over two minutes left in the half. The 'Eaters would increase their cushion to eight before Sac State's Jessica Rios knocked down a three with 24 seconds on the clock to bring it back to five (26-21) at intermission.
 
UC Irvine started the third frame on a 10-4 run, capped by a three-point play from Chloe Webb, to pull ahead, 36-25 at the 7:03 mark. The Hornets came back with a trey, but a couple layups by Sophia Locandro gave the Anteaters their largest lead of the afternoon at 40-28. They went on to finish the quarter with a 44-34 cushion.
 
The 'Eaters held strong over the final 10 minutes for the 58-51 victory. The closest the visitors got was five with one minute remaining, but Dusharm calmly knocked down her free throws to put the game out of reach.
 
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Kayla Williams (MVP) – UC Irvine
Tara Dusharm – UC Irvine
Lianna Tillman – Sacramento State
DeAnna Wilson – Illinois State
 

UP NEXT: UC Irvine hits the road for one game this week, heading to USC for a 7 p.m. showdown on Thursday, Dec. 2.
 
 
NOTES
• UC Irvine hosted its first regular-season tournament since 2008.
• Despite forcing a season-low 13 turnovers, the 'Eaters have had fewer miscues than their opponent in all six games.
• Naomi Hunt is the third Anteater to record a double-double this season.
• Kayla Williams extended her streak of consecutive games played with a 3FG made to 20.
• Williams has reached double figures in scoring in 23 of 29 career games played.
• Tara Dusharm went 3-for-4 from the charity stripe, snapping a streak of 10-straight free throws made.
• Dusharm is shooting 89% (17-19) from the foul line this season.