Highlanders 71 - Tigers 59
The UC Riverside women's basketball team continued their three-game road trip on Saturday against Pacific looking to win fifth game over a Big West opponent. A dominating second half by UCR propelled the team to a 71-59 win over the Pacific Tigers.
The Tigers jumped out into an early 5-0 lead. UCR then used an 8-2 run to take the lead at 8-7. Both teams traded baskets from that point and kept the game close. The Tigers scored the last two points of the first half to lead by three points at halftime, 33-30.
UCR came into the second half more than ready to play. The Highlanders exploded into a 22-12 run to lead by as many as seven points with 12:38 remaining in regulation. For that point, the Highlanders dominated the rest of the game. UCR went to lead by as many as 12 points and won the game by 12, 59-71. The Highlanders shot 68 percent from the floor in the second half to take command of the game, compared to just 36 percent from the Tigers.
With this victory, the Highlanders have won five of their last six games. The team has an 8-12 record overall and a 5-3 record against conference teams, placing them in third place behind UC Davis and Cal Poly.
UCR was led by a dominating performance from Alyssa Morris. She earned her first career double-double with a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Rhaya Neabors, who was named Big West player of the week earlier in the week, scored 19 points and grabbed six boards. Brittany Waddell came off the bench with a strong performance as she had 14 points and 9 boards.
UCR will have one more road game on Feb. 4 against Cal State Northridge before returning to the Student Recreation Center on Feb. 6.
Aggies 54 - Highlanders 50
The women's basketball team hit the road on Thursday against conference-leading UC Davis. The Aggies and the Highlanders played a close game that went down to the wire. The Aggies ended up prevailing winning 54-50, snapping the four-game winning streak that UCR had earned.
UCR took the first lead of the game with a bucket from Marissa Rivera. The Aggies kept the game close with buckets of their own and the game was tied at six with 16:02 remaining. The Highlanders then went to outscore the Aggies 19-12 to lead by as many as nine points. But UC Davis used a late 10-2 run in the last minutes of the game to lead at halftime 28-27.
The second half was even more tightly contested than the first. Neither team led by more than five points in the second. With four minutes to go, the Aggies were up by a point, 47-46. The Aggies, however, closed out the game with a 7-4 run in the last minutes of the game to win the game by a score of 54-50.
Neither team shot the ball extremely well in the second half. The Highlanders shot 26 percent from the floor in the second and UC Davis shot 32 percent. In the end, the Aggies out-hustled the Highlanders to take the win.
The loss was a heartbreaker for the Highlannders. It was the first time UCR had lost a game since Jan. 9, and it was the third loss against a conference team.
UC Davis earned their sixth win against a conference team and they kept their first place spot in Big West standings.
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