Irvine Women Come Apart in Loss to West Virginia

A short-handed UC Irvine women’s basketball team dissolved in the final 10 minutes, losing to West Virginia, 66-53, Tuesday in the Bren Center.

The Anteaters (0-3) led, 49-48, with 10 minutes left, but the Mountaineers’ Rebecca Burbridge and Maria Tchobanova led a 16-0 run. Both scored six points during that stretch.

Burbridge finished with 21 points. Her three-pointer with 9 minutes 39 seconds left gave West Virginia (2-2) a 51-49 lead. Burbridge made five of eight three-pointers.

Tchobanova had 23 points and 13 rebounds.

Shannon Anders and Chelsea Mackey each had 11 points for Irvine, which scored only five points in the last 10 minutes.

The Anteaters were without point guard Megan Stafford, who was sitting out the last game in a four-game suspension. Also out was forward Char-Pei Chen, who has been out a month with a degenerative disc in her back and recently started working out again. Freshman forward Megan Nugent also missed the game because of a knee injury.