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Fri July 25, 2008

UCI enters as the tournament's eighth seed

UC Irvine Battles Cal Poly In First Round Of The Big West Tournament

Tournament Time!

March 11, 2008

ANTEATERS BATTLE MUSTANGS AT THE BIG WEST TOURNAMENT: Eighth-seeded UC Irvine (7-23, 3-13) will battle fifth seed Cal Poly Wednesday (Mar. 12) in the first game of the Big West Tournament beginning at noon at the Anaheim Convention Center. 

 

Follow all of the Big West Tournament action at www.bigwest.org

VERSUS THE MUSTANGS: Cal Poly holds a 19-16 lead over UC Irvine in the series record all-time, taking the last three meetings including two games this season.

UCI had its worst Big West performance of the year in a 92-55 loss to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. The Mustangs 92 points were the second most scored against UCI this season. The Anteaters shot .281 (18-64) in that meeting, the second lowest shooting percentage this year. Forward Stephanie Duda recorded 12 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Anteaters. Senior Miranda Forry added 10 points, six rebounds and two blocks off the bench, while senior Annie Mai had eight points and Rebecca Maessen totaled six points. Cal Poly was led by Rebecca Tratter with 16 points, going 7-13 from the floor. She also recorded six rebounds off the bench. Lisa Mc Bride and Megan Harrison each scored 12 points with Harrison grabbing a team-high nine rebounds. Brittany Asplund added 10 points in 15 minutes of action.

In the second meeting, Cal Poly outscored UCI 47-21 in the last 20 minutes to defeat the Anteaters, 84-65 in Irvine. UCI led 62-61 with 8:03 remaining, but did not score again until 38 ticks remained on the clock. Maessen led UCI with 16 points followed by Mai with 14 points and Kelly Cochran with 13 points and two blocks. Duda added nine points and nine rebounds, while Forry had nine points and six rebounds. Cal Poly's Kristina Santiago led all players with 22 points, 16 coming in the second half. She was 9-13 from the field and seven rebounds in 23 minutes of action. Shannon Gholar finished with 12 points, while Harrison posted a double-double off the bench with 10 points and 10 rebounds. McBride added 10 points and eight rebounds. Cal Poly shot 53 percent (32-60) from the field for the game and 60.6 percent in the second half (20-33). The Mustangs topped UCI on the boards, 45-31.

 

Over the two games this season, Cal Poly shot .554 from the field to UCI's .328. The Mustangs also out-scored 88-60 and out-rebounded the Anteaters 47-33.5.

 

AT THE BIG WEST TOURNAMENT: UCI is 11-18 all-time at the Big West Tournament, going 2-6 since the tournament has been held in Anaheim. This will be the first meeting against Cal Poly in the post-season.  The Anteaters have lost in the first round the last two years.

 

UCI won the Big West Tournament in 1995.

 

POST PLAYERS EARN ALL-CONFERENCE DISTINCTION:  Senior forward Stephanie Duda and junior forward Kelly Cochran were both named to the Big West honorable mention team.

 

Duda, who leads the league in double-doubles with 16, averaged 11.5 points and 9.9 rebounds in conference games this year.  Overall, Duda is the only player in the league to average a double-double on the season with a 12.4 point and 10.2 rebound average. She leads the conference and is ranked 12th nationally in rebounds. At 5-10, she is the smallest player in the nation's top 20 rankings.

 

Cochran led the team against league opponents with a 12.6 scoring average. She also averaged 7.1 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game. For the season, Cochran is averaging 11.8 points and 7.2 rebounds, which ranks 12th and third among Big West players, respectively.

BEYOND THE ARC: The Anteaters lead the league in three-point field goal percentage defense (.289) overall and is second (.292) in conference games only. The squad is second in three-point field goal percentage overall (.330) and tops the Big West in league-only games (.360). Annie Mai has hit a team-high 16 three-pointers against Big West teams and is shooting .421 (16-38) from downtown which leads the league.

SO CLOSE: 11 of UCI's 23 losses have been by 10 points or less, including seven that were by six or less. The Anteaters have gone into overtime twice this year, dropping both contests.

TULL FINISHING STRONG: Senior Haley Tull is averaging 9.3 points, while shooting .500 from the floor over the last three games. The forward is also averaging 4.0 rebounds and has added three blocks in that span.

DUDA ALL OVER THE RECORD BOOKS: Senior Stephanie Duda ranks 12th in UCI career points (1,011), third in rebounds (851) and sixth in steals (172). Her 296 rebounds this year ranks second in the season record books, behind her 332 performance in 2006-07.

LAST TIME OUT: UCI ended the regular season with a 70-66 loss to Cal State Fullerton on the road.

 

Rebecca Maessen and Kirian Ishizaki led UCI with 12 points apiece. Haley Tull and Miranda Forry each added 10 points with Forry recording a team-high eight rebounds.