UC Irvine guard Hunter Hernandez, right, collides with Long Beach State forward Jada Crawshaw as she drives toward the basket during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
UC Irvine guard Ines Gnahore grabs her own rebound during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game against Long Beach State on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
UC Irvine guard Hunter Hernandez, left, takes a shot as Long Beach State guard Savannah Tucker defends during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach State guard Patricia Chung, right, puts up a shot around UC Irvine forward Nevaeh Dean during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach State forward Jada Crawshaw, on floor, grabs a loose ball in front of UC Irvine forward Nevaeh Dean during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
UC Irvine guard Deja Lee, right, takes a shot in front of Long Beach State guard Lovely Sonnier during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
UC Irvine forward Summah Hanson, center, and forward Daniela Falcon Hernandez, right, cheer from the bench as the Anteaters extend their lead during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game against Long Beach State on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach State forward Rachel Loobie, right, takes a jump shot over UC Irvine forward Clara Djoko during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
UC Irvine guard Nikki Tom drives toward the basket during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game against Long Beach State on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach State forward Mykelle Richards reaches for a rebound during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game against UC Irvine on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
UC Irvine guard Nikki Tom takes a jump shot during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game against Long Beach State on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach State guard JaQuoia Jones-Brown, left, and UC Irvine guard Hunter Hernandez reach for the rebound during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach State forward Judit Oliva Fernandez, right, keeps UC Irvine guard Amelia Scharpf from taking a shot in a Big West Conference women’s basketball game in Irvine on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
UC Irvine guard Ines Gnahore cheers after a basket by one of her teammates during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game against Long Beach State on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach State guard Savannah Tucker protects the rebound from UC Irvine guard Lauryn Madsen, left, and forward Clara Djoko, right, during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
UC Irvine guard Haley Hernandez, center, cheers after a play by a teammate during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game against Long Beach State on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
Show Caption1 of 16UC Irvine guard Hunter Hernandez, right, collides with Long Beach State forward Jada Crawshaw as she drives toward the basket during a Big West Conference women’s basketball game on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
ExpandIRVINE — The Long Beach State and UC Irvine women’s basketball teams are part of a tight battle for first place in the Big West Conference. Locked in a three-way tie with Hawaii, the rivals both brought 7-1 league records into Thursday night’s game at the Bren Event Center and their intentions to maintain at least a share of the top spot.
There are too many regular-season games left to decide who will finish atop the standings, but for one night, UCI made its case with a 61-47 victory over Long Beach at the Bren Events Center.
With the victory, the Anteaters (14-6 overall, 8-2 Big West), inched ahead of Long Beach (11-8, 7-3) and stayed in a tie with Hawai’i (14-6, 8-2) after the Rainbow Wahine defeated UC San Diego in overtime on Thursday.
“I think every game we play there’s a lot play for,” UCI coach Tamara Inoue said. “It’s early, though I think obviously we want to still be battling for first place. (Long Beach coach) Amy (Wright) has done a phenomenal job at Long Beach, and they play so hard. So, we knew it was going to be a battle today, so we were ready for it.”
The teams will play again on March 1 at LBSU, a game that could decide the top seed for the Big West Tournament.
Long Beach, which is averaging a conference-best 70.6 points per game, stalled against the Anteaters’ nationally ranked defense. UCI is ranked 18th in the nation, holding opponents to 55.2 ppg.
As equally as impressive as their defense was the Anteaters’ offense, which got four players in double figures, led by Hunter Hernandez, who had 16 points, 11 rebounds for her fourth career double-double. The junior guard also had two assists and one steal.
Deja Lee added 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting 3 for 6 from 3-point range), while Nikki Tom had 11 points and four steals and Olivia Williams scored 10 points.
“The last couple of years we’ve been more known for our defense and then this year we have a lot more firepower,” Inoue said. “But we’ve really been pushing the defense side a little bit more, getting it back to what we know. I thought they did a really good job understanding the scouting and personnel and getting after it. Most importantly, our rebounding was a big key today.”
The Anteaters outrebounded Long Beach, 46-41.
The game stayed close until UCI made a push in the third quarter. Holding a 35-32 advantage, the hosts went on a 10-3 run to push their lead to 45-35 with one second left.
Lee opened the final quarter with a 3-pointer to give the Anteaters an 11-point edge, their biggest lead of the night at that point. It was all they needed as Long Beach struggled to find the basket.
Jada Crenshaw had 13 points and 11 rebounds to pace LBSU and Lovely Sonnier added 10 points. Rachel Loobie contributed seven points and seven rebounds.
Senior guard Savannah Tucker, who leads the conference in scoring at 15.8 ppg, finished with eight points on 3-of-10 shooting.
Wright said her team couldn’t break UCI’s zone, which led to missed shots and turnovers. Long Beach turned the ball over 21 times.
“They’re obviously a little taller, a little longer than us and they have some good athletes that can cover a lot of ground,” Wright said. “I just thought we worked all week on shot fake and ball fake, and we just really didn’t utilize that.”
Wright said she hopes for a different outcome when they meet again at the Walter Pyramid.
“We came in last year and it was a close game and then back at our place last year, it was a close game,” Wright said. “So, we’ll make adjustments. I’m still playing a lot of young kids. They’re getting their feet wet, and we’re just trying to get better every day.”
The first half was close as UCI’s Nevaeh Dean scored on a layup and Tom buried a 3-pointer to give the Anteaters a 26-23 halftime lead.
UCI failed to score for nearly five minutes in the first quarter as LBSU ran out to a 16-9 lead. Williams ended UCI’s drought with a 3-pointer with one minute left to pull the Anteaters within 16-12. That was the spark they needed.
Trailing 18-14, Williams buried her second 3-pointer to close the gap to one with 6:48 left to play in the first half. After Tucker hit a 3-pointer to give Long Beach a 21-17 lead, Hernandez responded with a 3-pointer.
The Anteaters outscored Long Beach, 6-3 to close out the half.
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