IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine women's basketball team started and finished strong for a 65-56 win over Long Island University Friday at the Bren Events Center.
 
The Anteaters improved to 4-1 overall, marking their best start since 2018-19. LIU dropped to 2-4 on the young season.
 
The 'Eaters scored the first seven points of the game and led by as many as 17 in the third period. The only time they trailed was for a three-minute stretch in the second quarter. They also held off a late rally by the Sharks, which cut UCI's 17-point lead down to six with just over five minutes remaining.
 
"We're finding a way to win which is a positive thing, but we still have a lot of work to do," said head coach Tamara Inoue. "It's early in the season but I'm really liking our team."
 
BY THE NUMBERS: Sophomore Nikki Tom led UC Irvine with a career-high 18 points to go along with six rebounds, three steals and two assists. She was 6-of-7 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc.
 
Sophomore Hunter Hernandez also had a season-best 11 points and seven boards.
 
Sophomore Olivia Williams finished with eight points and three steals, while graduate student Naomi Hunt added six points and seven rebounds. Junior Diaba Konate registered six points and a season-high seven assists.
 
The 'Eaters shot 41% from the field, while holding LIU to 36%. They also won the battle in rebounds (35-32), turnovers forced (26-23) and steals (17-11).
 
Ashley Austin paced the Sharks with a game-high 19 points.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: UC Irvine raced out to a 7-0 lead before LIU got on the board at the 5:27 mark. The Anteaters increased their advantage to as many as nine before the Sharks closed out the first quarter with a 3-pointer to make it 13-7. UCI forced 11 turnovers in the first 10 minutes of action.
 
LIU kept the momentum to start the second period with a 12-2 run putting the visitors on top, 19-15, with 6:24 to go. Hunt answered on the other end with a triple, and after trading points over the next couple minutes, the 'Eaters came storming back. They outscored the Sharks, 13-0, over the final 3:51 for a 31-21 cushion at the break.
 
In the third frame, LIU cut the deficit to single digits before UC Irvine scored eight unanswered for its largest lead of the afternoon at 42-25 with 3:53 on the clock. Caiyle Kaupu finished the run with a layup, while Hernandez also had six of her 11 points during that stretch. The Sharks chipped away over the last two minutes, closing to within 10 (44-34) by the end of the period.
 
The Anteaters went up 50-37 following back-to-back threes from Tom and Hunt early in the fourth, but LIU refused to go down quietly, as it responded with seven-straight points. Tom then hit another big triple and the 'Eaters reclaimed their double digit lead (55-44) on a Nevaeh Parkinson layup at the 3:47 mark. UCI did not allow the Sharks to get any closer than nine the rest of the way.
 
UP NEXT: UC Irvine is back on the road next week as it travels to Eastern Washington for a 6 p.m. non-conference game on Thursday, Dec. 1.
 
NOTES
• UCI extended its home win streak to eight games.
• UC Irvine has forced 22+ turnovers in every outing this year.
• The Anteaters have held each of their five opponents to at least one single-digit scoring quarter.
• They kept LIU's leading scorer, Emaia O'Brien, off the board until the 2:22 mark of the fourth period.
• The 'Eaters improved to 2-0 against LIU and is 3-5 against New York schools.
• UCI has had a different leading scorer in four of its five contests.
• Naomi Hunt knocked down multiple 3FG for the third time this season.
• Hunt now has 198 career 3-pointers made.
• With her five points today, sophomore Déja Lee surpassed 100 career points.