UCI Wins, Clinches Spot in Tournament

UC Irvine is guaranteed a spot in the conference tournament after a 69-57 victory over Nevada in a Big West women’s basketball game Thursday in Irvine.

The victory, coupled with a loss Thursday by Cal State Fullerton to Pacific, UC Irvine (11-15, 6-11) cliched sixth place in the conference and the final berth in the conference tournament March 7-9 in Reno.

Princess Hatcher had a team-high 16 points for UC Irvine, which had all five starters score in double figures. She made six of seven shots from the field.

UC Irvine shot 56% (28 of 50) from the field for the game.

Leticia Oseguera (15 rebounds) and Allah-mi Basheer each had 14 points and Fatima Warren had 11 and Sabrina Robinson 10 also for the Anteaters.

Katrina Crenshaw had 19 points and Shawa Franceschini and Noelle Fable had 15 each for Nevada (8-17, 5-12), which started the game tied for sixth with UCI.

In another conference game:

Pacific 72, Cal State Fullerton 68--Andrea Thieme scored a career-high 27 points and Shayla Bradshaw had 20 points and nine rebounds for host Cal State Fullerton (7-19, 4-13).

Kate McAllister scored a game-high 26, including 12 of 12 free throws, for fourth-place Pacific (16-10, 11-6).

Cal State Fullerton had tied it, 68-68, with 1 minutes 40 seconds left but failed to score the rest of the way.