SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - The UC Irvine women's basketball team led wire-to-wire in a 68-55 victory over Cal Poly Thursday evening at Mott Athletics Center.
 
The Anteaters (18-5, 10-2 Big West) jumped out to a 10-0 start, but the Mustangs closed the gap to three by the end of the first period. The 'Eaters stayed out front by single digits until a late 14-6 rally gave them a 61-51 advantage with under a minute to go. They ended up outscoring Cal Poly, 27-18, over the final 10 minutes with Hunter Hernandez netting 15 of her career-high 25 in the frame.
 
"It was good to see a strong start and a strong finish," said head coach Tamara Inoue. "I'm really proud of how we finished tonight. That's something we've been working on to make sure we close games out. I thought Hunter and Nikki did a great job at the end of the game."
 
BY THE NUMBERS: Sophomore Hunter Hernandez led all players with a career-high 25 points in 26 minutes played. Sophomore Nikki Tom added 10 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists, while classmate Amelia Scharpf also reached double figures with 10 points.
 
Junior Diaba Konate notched nine points, five boards, three assists and two steals. Junior Nevaeh Parkinson contributed seven points and a team-best eight rebounds.
 
The 'Eaters shot 33% from the field, 32% from beyond the arc and 80% at the free throw line. They won the battle in rebounding (42-40), turnovers forced (19-11) and steals (9-8).
 
Sydney Bourland paced the Mustangs with 13 points, while Natalia Ackerman pulled down a game-high 13 boards.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: UC Irvine raced out to a 10-0 lead before Cal Poly got on the board with a 3-pointer at the 4:10 mark. After a jumper from Nyagoa Gony, the Mustangs outscored the Anteaters 9-3 over the final 3:30 to cut their deficit to 15-12 at the end of the first quarter.
 
Cal Poly (6-15, 3-10 Big West) struck first in the second period, but UCI would not relinquish the lead. It went back-and-forth until the 'Eaters used a 7-1 spurt, capped by a Hernandez jumper, to increase their margin to eight. The Mustangs were able to get a putback to close out the half as UC Irvine held a 29-23 cushion at the break.
 
The third frame was tightly contested with the Anteaters leading by no more than five. Cal Poly closed the gap to one three times, the last coming with 23 seconds on the clock before Tom answered with a triple right before the buzzer to make it 41-37.
 
The 'Eaters really got going in the fourth, outscoring the Mustangs, 27-18. Hernandez sparked the late surge with 15 points in the final 10 minutes. Cal Poly kept it close, trailing by only two (47-45) at the four-minute mark. Hernandez then had five-straight points and UCI continued on a 14-6 run to go up by double digits at 61-51 with under a minute remaining. UC Irvine made 7-of-8 at the free throw line the rest of the way to seal the 68-55 victory.  
 
UP NEXT: UC Irvine will make its way to the Inland Empire on Saturday, Feb. 11, for a 6 p.m. game at UC Riverside.
 
NOTES
• UC Irvine has now won six in a row in its all-time series with Cal Poly.
• UCI improved to 6-0 in Big West away games and set a program record with its ninth road victory.
• The Anteaters held their opponent to under 60 points for the third-straight outing and 17th time this season.
• Hunter Hernandez had her third 20+ point performance of the year.
• In conference play, Hernandez is averaging 13.6 points per contest.
• Diaba Konate saw her streak of consecutive free throws made snapped at 28.
• She still finished the evening making 5-of-6 at the line and is shooting 92% on the season.
• Nyagoa Gony had her seventh outing with multiple blocks.