UCI Emerges With Victory : Women’s basketball: Anteaters beat Long Beach State, 71-60, to advance to semifinals against Cal State Fullerton.

The UC Irvine women’s basketball team recovered from a sluggish start--the Anteaters scored only 14 points in the first 15 1/2 minutes of the game--and got its running game going in the second half Wednesday to beat Long Beach State, 71-60, in the quarterfinals of the Big West tournament.

It was not a pretty game, filled with missed layups and turnovers from both sides. Long Beach led at halftime, 29-27, but Irvine took better care of the ball in the second half and got some clutch shooting from Cher Scanlon and Allah-mi Basheer to advance to tonight’s semifinal game against Cal State Fullerton.

“I think they wanted to prove a point, that their season was not a fluke,” Long Beach State Coach Glenn McDonald said. “We came out with decent intensity in the first half, but we folded in the second half.

“I just think they were hungrier. They wanted it more. And you have to credit Irvine for being so competitive. You know they’re going to keep coming after you.”

The third-seeded Anteaters (17-10) went on a 10-0 run early in the second half to turn a one-point deficit into a 43-34 lead with 12 minutes 53 seconds remaining. The sixth-seeded 49ers (13-14) closed to five, but Scanlon hit three three-pointers and Basheer, who was named to the All-Big West first team Wednesday, scored five points in a seven-minute stretch to put the Anteaters in control, 66-51.

Basheer, who picked up two quick fouls and played only seven minutes in the first half, came on strong in the second half and finished with a team-high 18 points and 11 rebounds.

“To put it bluntly, I was (angry),” she said. “I sat out almost the whole first half and just decided to step it up.”

The 49ers were led by Melissa Gower, also a first-team All-Big West selection, who scored 12 of her 19 points in the second half. But Long Beach’s 11 second-half turnovers and Irvine’s rebounding advantage were too much to overcome.

Irvine Coach Colleen Matsuhara, who found out after the game she had been named Big West coach of the year, pointed to the Anteaters’ rebounding advantage--they won the battle of the boards, 49-36--and their balanced scoring--four players were in double figures as the deciding factors.

“We played tentative, played scared in the first half,” Matsuhara said. “We knew we could not back down to this team.”