Lane Violation Costly for Irvine

UC Irvine’s Kirsten Cappel was at the free-throw line with a chance to give the Anteaters a tie with four seconds left against North Texas Wednesday in the opening game of the Big West women’s basketball tournament.

Then a whistle blew, and Cappel suddenly had the ball taken from her hands after a lane violation was called against her teammate, senior guard Princess Hatcher.

It gave the Eagles the ball out of bounds with a one-point lead. Irvine had no choice but to quickly foul Empress Drane, who made both free throws, and North Texas escaped with a 71-68 victory.

“I was concentrating so much on the free throw that I wasn’t sure what happened,” said Cappel, who had made the first free throw. “But for them to call something like that was really disappointing.” Referees ruled that Hatcher had stepped back from the line after Cappel was given the ball for her second free throw.

“I thought it was simultaneous,” Irvine Coach Mark Adams said. “I thought [the referee] threw her the ball as she was stepping off the line. But it’s just unfortunate it happened that way. It was heart-breaking.”

Andrea Osborne, the supervisor of women’s basketball officials in the conference, called it “a textbook call,” and said she supported it. “As soon as the ball is released, it’s a live ball,” she said. “I’ve only seen it called a couple of other times this season.”

The violation pulled the plug on a strong second-half comeback by Irvine (11-16). North Texas, the Eastern Division’s top-seeded team, is 20-7. The Eagles advance to Friday’s semifinals against Long Beach State, which beat Boise State in overtime, 76-74.

Irvine had fallen behind at halftime, 42-32, but the Anteaters charged back behind the scoring of reserves Jeanine Horton and Nikole Payton. Horton, who had made only one of 14 three-point shots this season, connected on three in a row to get the Anteaters rolling.

A three-pointer and a layup by Payton gave Irvine a one-point lead with seven minutes left, and it was tight the rest of the way.

“I was really proud of the way our kids came back in the second half,” Adams said. “Horton and Payton got us back into it. And we decided we were going to play defense in the second half, and that helped.”

Payton finished with 10 points and Horton nine. Three Irvine players--Cappel, Megan Stafford and Chelsea Mackey--each finished with 14. Drane led North Texas with 17 points on seven-of-14 shooting from the field.

Irvine had a 42-32 rebounding advantage with Mackey getting 15 and Cappel 10, but the Anteaters were hurt by 18 turnovers to 10 for North Texas.

North Texas shot only 27% from the floor in the second half and finished at 40% The Eagles shot 52% in the first half. Irvine finished at 44% from the field.

“You have to take your hat off to North Texas,” Adams said. “They have won 20 games again, even though they were picked to finish in a tie for last in their division.”