The UC Riverside women’s team played their first of two games on the road against the Pacific Tigers, where they fell by a large margin of 17 points. With the final score of 63-46, the Pacific victory came mostly thanks to a large 13-0 run Pacific had in the first half, and the Highlanders’ season-high 26 turnovers. The Highlanders could not make up the deficit as the game got away early from them. The Highlanders fell to 5-18 overall and 3-8 in Big West play. Pacific improved to 13-9 and 6-4 in league. Pacific has been extremely difficult to beat at home and it has an 8-2 record when they play at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
In the first half of the game, the Highlanders had a slim advantage of 6-4 very early on. Pacific took off the tarmac and never looked back as they went on a 13-0 run to open a large 11-point lead of 17-6 against the Highlanders. During the Pacific run, the Highlanders missed five shots and turned the ball over eight times. A Highlander jump shot from Natasha Hadley ended the Pacific run at the 10:08 mark of the first half. However, Pacific maintained its large lead and finished the first half with a 13-point lead, 28-15.
Two minutes into the second half, the Highlanders managed to go on a 6-2 run early to cut the deficit to just nine points, 30-21. Pacific pushed its lead back to 13 until Highlander Hadley scored to bring back the deficit to nine points again, 38-29, at the 14:46 left in the game. From this point on, Pacific ran away with the game, as it built a 19-point lead, 50-31, thanks to a 12-2 run which saw the Highlanders not putting a point up the board for five minutes. The closest the Highlanders got to narrowing the Pacific lead was within 15 points. Pacific went on to cruise to a 63-46 victory.
Feb. 11, 2012
Aggies 67 – Highlanders 46
The UC Riverside women’s basketball team matched its season-high 26 turnovers from the previous game and fell to the UC Davis Aggies by a margin of 21 points, 67-46. The Highlanders struggled throughout the game not just with turnovers, but also with their shooting percentage. The second loss on this road trip caused the Highlanders to fall to 5-19 overall and 3-9 in Big West play. UC Davis improved to 15-8 overall and 7-4 in Big West play.
In the first half, both teams struggled to put up points on the board. The Highlanders were down by two points, 4-2, early in the half. However, UC Davis found its offensive rhythm and went on a 8-2 run to open up the game with a commanding lead of 13-4 over the Highlanders with 11:05 left to play in the half. With Highlander guard Tre’Shonti Nottingham getting into foul trouble, UC Davis was able to take advantage and add to its lead as the half closed with the Highlanders trailing by 16, 33-17. The Highlanders only converted on six of the 19 shots they took in the first half.
In the second half, the Highlanders came out hitting their shots as they went four for six from the field to cut into UC Davis’ lead as they trailed by just 13. The Highlanders, however, could not maintain their run as they still trailed by 13, 41-28, with 15:21 remaining on the clock. Hitting another scoring funk where the Highlanders only hit one of four shots, UC Davis took advantage and extended its already commanding lead to 23 points. The game score stood at 53-30 in favor of UC Davis with 10:40 left to play in the game. The Highlanders could not make even a dent in the lead as UC Davis maintained its lead around the 20-point mark to seal the 67-46 victory.
The Highlanders will return home to play against UCSB Gauchos this Thursday and Cal Poly on Saturday.
