BIG WEST WOMEN : Irvine Looks to Reverse a Trend Against Pacific

The lucky cough drops will be in their precise spot near the UC Irvine bench and the lucky frog pin will be on the coat of superstitious Coach Colleen Matsuhara today when the Anteater women’s team makes a bid for its first trip to the NCAA tournament.

The Anteaters (18-10) will play University of the Pacific, a team they have not beaten in the last 12 meetings, in the Big West tournament championship game at 1 p.m. in the Thomas & Mack Center. The game will be broadcast live on KUCI (88.9 FM).

The Anteaters (18-10) lost to the Tigers by two points twice this year, losing, 57-55, at Pacific on a basket with 11 seconds remaining and, 66-64, in the Bren Center when the Tigers scored with 0.1 seconds left in the game.

Today will be the Anteaters’ third trip to the conference championship game, but when they lost to UNLV in 1984, there were only three teams in the conference and when they lost again in 1985, there were five teams.