ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - In a close battle on the road, UC Irvine women's basketball came up just short, falling 65-62 on a buzzer beater to the University of New Mexico Wednesday evening at The Pit.
 
Olivia Williams knocked down her fourth 3-pointer of the game to tie it up at 62-62 with 3.1 seconds on the clock, but the Lobos had an answer as Lara Langermann sank a deep three for the win.
 
UCI (5-2), which was handed its first loss since the season opener on Nov. 4, saw its five-game win streak snapped. UNM has now won three of its last four and improved to 4-3 on the season.
 
BY THE NUMBERS: Senior Déja Lee finished with a season-high 20 points on a 7-of-12 performance from the field. She was also 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.
 
Junior Olivia Williams was 7-for-14 overall and 4-of-6 from deep for a career-high 18 points. Sophomore Summah Hanson added 17 points and seven rebounds.
 
Senior Amelia Scharpf chipped in five points and a career-high eight boards, while senior Nikki Tom dished out a team-high six assists.
 
The 'Eaters shot 33% from the floor, 31% from distance and were a perfect 9-of-9 at the charity stripe. They matched their season high with 17 assists on 22 made field goals. UCI held the advantage in turnovers forced (16-8) and points off turnovers (20-6), but were outrebounded, 47-33.
 
Destinee Hooks led the Lobos with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Viané Cumber also had a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: New Mexico made its first four field goals to jump out to a 10-0 lead. Hanson then got UC Irvine on the board with a layup at the 5:51 mark and the Anteaters continued on a 6-0 run to make it a four-point game. The Lobos ended a four-minute scoring drought with a triple and the sides proceeded to go back-and-forth until Lee closed out the first quarter with an and-1 to cut UCI's deficit to 17-15.
 
The 'Eaters opened the second period on an 8-4 spurt, capped by a Williams three, to take their first lead of the night at 23-21 with 6:42 remaining. After UNM knotted the score twice, a layup from Hanson and another 3-pointer by Williams put the Anteaters on top, 30-25. They ended up outscoring the home team, 8-3, over the final 3:25 for a 33-28 advantage at the break.
 
Williams got the scoring started in the second half with a three to give UC Irvine its largest lead of the game. New Mexico then reeled off seven unanswered before a Lee triple and an and-1 from Scharpf widened UCI's margin to 42-37 at the 5:54 mark. The Lobos punched right back to tie it up at 42-all and took a 51-48 edge at the end of the third frame.
 
UNM went up by five early in the fourth, but a 9-1 rally that included seven-straight points from Lee put the 'Eaters up, 57-54, with 7:08 to go. Although the Anteaters went scoreless over the next four-plus minutes, New Mexico was only able to come within one before a turnaround jumper by Williams made it 59-56 at the 2:26 mark.
 
The Lobos responded with a layup and were then able to get to the line six times in a 10-second span. They converted four of those free throws to pull ahead, 62-59, with 21 ticks on the clock. After UCI called a timeout, Nevaeh Dean put up a three that was off the mark, but Tom corralled the offensive board and found Williams on the wing, who buried her fourth triple of the night to tie it up.
 
With 3.1 seconds left, UNM's Langermann scored her first points of the game on a deep three before the buzzer for the 65-62 victory.
 
UP NEXT: UC Irvine stays on the road this weekend, traveling to Denver for a 1 p.m. (MT)/ 12 p.m. (PT) showdown with the Pioneers on Saturday, Nov. 30.
 
NOTES
• Déja Lee increased her career total in 3-pointers made to 109, putting her in a tie for ninth in program history.
• Lee had UC Irvine's fourth 20-point performance of the season.
• Summah Hanson recorded her third-straight double-figure scoring game.
• Olivia Williams had her second game with four 3FG made and now leads the team with 15 on the season.
• Nevaeh Dean pulled down six rebounds to give her 301 in her career.
• UCI is 0-3 all-time against UNM, with all three meetings in Albuquerque.