UCR wins to begin ‘new chapter’
Considering the regular season the UC Riverside women’s basketball team endured, there was nothing but joy and that spark that anything is possible after Tuesday afternoon.
The Highlanders went 5-25 during the regular season and came into the Big West Tournament as the 10th seed and losers of 14 of their past 15 games, including their regular-season finale against their first-round opponent, No. 7 seed Cal Poly.
So much for the past. Jordan Webster scored 21 points, Matehya Bryant had 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting and Anna Mount added nine points, nine rebounds and three steals in a 63-54 win at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada.
UCR led for much of the game but never by double-digits until it flooded the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run, Bryant scoring three inside baskets and Webster a three-point play on a rebound, basket and free throw to extend the margin to 49-36, the biggest of the game.
Cal Poly (10-18) responded, using a press to run off eight points and cut the Highlanders’ lead to five.
Riverside broke the press quickly and burned it for a lot of fast breaks and a 10-2 run on its own to put the game away.
“We just talked about switching out against the press and depend on the priorities we preached all season,” acting interim head coach Brad Langston said.
“It was a long season but we knew this was a new chapter. So many losses during the season were games we couldn’t close out. We’ve felt confidence all season in league play. We’ll just take it. It’s a game at a time now.”
The Highlanders advanced to face No. 2 seed Long Beach State (22-8) in a quarterfinal today at 6 p.m.
Cal Poly suffered all kinds of problems. The Mustangs had 18 turnovers, which UC Riverside turned into 22 points, and just two offensive rebounds, both of them in the final quarter. Jazzy Anousinh had 11 points, Annika Shah added 10 and Natalia Ackerman contributed nine points, nine rebounds and three steals.
“It was a frustrating evening on offense,” Cal Poly coach Shanele Stires said. “We couldn’t find a rhythm, and UC Riverside kept us off balance and off the boards. They did a great job eliminating our second shots.”
For Webster, it was nice to see their effort rewarded with on-court success.
“It’s great to have a comeback win like this,” she said. “All season long our focus has been on playing tough and depending on the process for our success and not the results. We really played well as a team tonight.”
Northridge falls short
Cal State Northridge went cold at the wrong time.
Cal State Bakersfield took full advantage, rallying for a 55-52 win over the Matadors in a Big West Tournament first-round game.
The ninth-seeded Roadrunners (722) will face top-seeded UC Irvine (24-5) in a quarterfinal game today at noon.
Bakersfield had lost both regularseason games to CSUN this season.
“They battled,” Northridge coach
Carlene Mitchell said of Bakersfield. “They didn’t want to go home today. They made the big plays late that they needed to make in order to get the victory, so credit to them.”
The eighth-seeded Matadors lost to Bakersfield in the opening round of the tournament last season, surrendering a last-second layup in overtime.
CSUN (7-24) was trying for its first tournament victory since winning the championship in 2018 against UC Davis.
“After last year, we had the same game coming in so we were really ready to come in and take over,” said Northridge senior Tess Amundsen, who scored 14 points for Northridge to surpass 1,000 for her college career. “We really wanted that win, move onto the next round, anybody does.”
Amundsen made her only 3-point attempt of the game to give the Matadors a 49-42 lead with 5:37 left, but Northridge wouldn’t score again until hitting a meaningless 3-pointer with two seconds left.
Amundsen’s offensive foul gave Bakersfield the ball with 45 seconds remaining and trailing by a point.
Sophia Tougas, who scored 17 points off the bench for Bakersfield, drove into the lane and scored on a layup with 31 seconds left to give the Roadrunners a 50-49 lead, their first of the second half.
Grace Hunter then blocked a shot by Ana Carolina De Jesus under the CSUN basket. Hunter then went to the free-throw line, made the first and missed the second, but Hennie van Schaik grabbed the offensive rebound and laid it in for a 53-49 lead with 18 seconds left.
Two more free throws by van Schaik with six seconds left sealed the victory.
De Jesus, who came in averaging 3.2 points and 2.8 rebounds, finished with season-highs of 12 points and 10 rebounds for Northridge.
Northridge guard Jordyn Jackson, a two-time All-Big West honorable mention selection, was held to a seasonlow three points.