Riverside Beats Irvine Again

The UC Irvine women’s basketball team threw a scare into UC Riverside for the second time this season, but the Highlanders again prevailed, 63-53, in a first-round Big West Conference tournament game Wednesday at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Second-seeded Riverside saw the No. 7 Anteaters cut a 14-point deficit to three points before pulling away again.

“I was a little nervous [about losing the lead],” said Riverside’s Julie Shaw, who had 15 points and nine rebounds. “We did it in 30 seconds [in the last game], so we knew it was possible. We just kept on urging the team that there was time on the clock and we needed to keep playing.”

When the teams played Feb. 1, Riverside lost a six-point lead with 32 second left before Shaw scored at the buzzer in a 71-69 victory.

Riverside (16-12), in its first season in the Big West after competing as a Division II independent last season and in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. before that, took its biggest lead at 29-15 on a pair of free throws by Crystal Harris with 2:14 to play in the first half.

With Cindy Oparah, the conference’s top scorer (15.5), leading the way, Irvine (8-20) outrebounded the Highlanders, 36-33, and nearly rebounded from a game-long deficit. Oparah finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

She completed a three-point play that pulled the Anteaters within 50-47 with 6:52 to play. Irvine also got within 54-51 with 2:44 to go after consecutive jumpers by Oparah and Christina Callaway.

The Highlanders will face Pacific in the semifinals Friday.

Shaw was one of three players in double figures for Riverside. Crystal Harris led all scorers with 18 points, and Amy Houchens had 15.

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UC Santa Barbara 73, Cal State Fullerton 62--Lindsay Taylor, a 6-foot-8 sophomore center, scored 21 points and had seven rebounds for the top-seeded Gauchos (23-5) against the eighth-seeded Titans (4-24).

The victory was the 19th in a row for Santa Barbara and the 400th in Coach Mark French’s career.

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Pacific 72, Idaho 45--Gillian d’Hondt had 15 points and six rebounds for the No. 3-seeded Tigers (18-10), who earned their fifth consecutive victory and second in five days over the sixth-seeded Vandals (11-17).

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Long Beach 77, Cal Poly SLO 72--Ekuah Ramsey had 24 points for the 49ers (16-12), who advanced to a semifinal game with Santa Barbara by beating the Mustangs (11-17).