Jan. 10, 2009

Box Score

Riverside, Calif. - For the first time in 2009, the Pacific women's basketball team suffered a Big West Conference loss, falling 65-56 at UC Riverside on Saturday, January 10. The loss dropped the Tigers to 8-7 overall and 2-1 in conference play while the Highlanders improved to 7-9 on the year and 3-1 in the Big West.

A game after picking up their first road win of the year, the Tigers struggled to find that same road magic against the Highlanders, falling behind early and never truely recovering.  To start the game, UC Riverside jumped out to a 10 point lead, holding the Tigers to just seven points over the first seven minutes of action.  Down 17-7, the Tigers mounted a comeback behind their zone defense, sparking a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to knot the game at 17-17.

Back in the game, the two teams traded baskets with the Tigers taking what would be their final lead of the contest with 7:14 left to play in the first half.  Up 21-19, the Tigers would not hit another shot the remainder of the half, allowing the Highlanders to roll off 15 unanswered points to take a 34-21 lead into the halftime break.

The drought continued in the second half as Pacific was outscored 9-2 over the first four miuntes of play as the Highlanders increased their lead to 20 points, the largest margin in the contest for UC Riverside.  From there, the Tigers mounted a small run midway through the half, closing to within 11 with just over five minutes to play, but fouls and turnover derailed the comeback effort for Pacific.  The Tigers would close the gap to nine by the final buzzer, scoring nine unansered points in the final minute of play to close the final gap to nine.

Senior Amber Simmons (Chico, Calif.) scored a game-high 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting while hitting 5-of-9 from the free-throw line.  Simmons added two rebounds to Pacific's cause as the Tigers outrebounded the Highlanders, 43-27.  Sophomore Gretchen Tiernan (Roseville, Calif.) was held quiet for much of the contest, but finished the night with 11 points, hitting three three-pointers.  Senior Janae Young (Sacramento, Calif.), the Tigers' leading scorer from two nights prior, was held scoreless for the first time in her Pacific career, missing all four of her shots from the floor.  The senior wing did pull down a team-high five rebounds and grabbed one steal in 23 minutes of action.

For the Highlanders, Roney Friend led the way with 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting.  The conference's second leading scorer behind Simmons and matched up against Simmons in the contest, Kemie Nkele posted 12 points in the game while grabbing 12 rebounds.  Nkele was just 4-of-16 from the floor, but hit a piar of three pointers and a pair of free-throws in the game.

Pacific will be back in action on Thursday, January 15, at the Alex G. Spanos Center when the Anteaters from UC Irvine come into town.  The game is scheduled for 7:00 pm.