Anteaters come up short

ANAHEIM — The UC Irvine women’s basketball team’s struggles against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this season have been a tale of the tape.

The Mustangs boast seven players 6-foot or taller, including a pair of 6-2 starters and a first-team all-conference forward who checks in at 6-1.

UCI, on the other hand, starts 5-9 senior Stephanie Duda in the post and has just one player taller than 6-0.

The size differential was the most obvious factor in the No. 5-seeded Mustangs’ 76-61 victory over the No. 8-seeded Anteaters in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center Monday.

“In this conference, we have a heck of a time with Cal Poly,” UCI Coach Molly Tuter said. “I think it’s just their strength and their quickness. They’re a lot quicker than we are, almost at every position. We have a hard time matching up with them. I guess that’s what recruiting is for; to catch up with everybody else.”

The Anteaters (7-24), who lost in the first round for the third straight season, were playing catch-up from the outset Monday, as the Mustangs sprinted to a 29-9 lead in the first 12-plus minutes.

Cal Poly (12-18), utilizing its size, and quickness, advantage, pounded the ball inside with early results, as it converted six layups and two putbacks on its way to a 37-19 halftime lead.

UCI used a successful full-court press to help even the playing field after intermission, catching the Mustangs off guard, Cal Poly Coach Faith Mimnaugh said.

“It’s hard to play a team three times,” said Mimnaugh, whose team had topped UCI, 92-55, at home on Jan. 12 and 84-65 at Irvine on Feb. 7. “We knew Irvine would throw something different at us and they did with the press, so that kind of surprised us. We’re a pressing team so we normally don’t have any problems [with the press], but I felt like Irvine did a really good job. They pressured our outlet pass to keep us out of the break. They had to do something to try to get back into the game and they executed it well.”

Tuter said she would have gone to the press before she did — after Cal Poly expanded the lead to 46-26 just more than three minutes into the second half — had she known it would be so effective. But the lineup she used to implement the press was laced with freshmen, whose quickness was superior to veteran players who had shone most of the season.

“I was depending quite a bit on [senior Duda and junior Kelly Cochran] to step up, be tough and figure out a way to get it done for us,” Tuter said. “I didn’t want to go to my youngsters, right away. I did have a good time in the second half of that game, having my youngsters press and cause some havoc out there.”

Duda, who came in averaging 12.4 points and a conference-leading 10.2 rebounds per game, was victimized by taller, quicker rivals in the paint. The conference’s Best Hustle Player award winner was three of 10 from the field, including three shots that were blocked. Duda, who sat out the final regular-season game with a sprained ankle, also had a season-low two rebounds, dropping her season average to 9.9.

Junior Kelly Cochran, returning from a four-game absence due to a knee problem that will require postseason surgery, had five points and six rebounds for the ’Eaters.

Sophomore Rebecca Maessen led UCI with 13 points, converting five of nine field-goal attempts, including both of her three-point tries.

Sophomore Keyonna Johnson came off the bench to contribute three points, four steals and three assists for UCI, which says goodbye to seniors Duda, Miranda Forry (eight points and four rebounds), Haley Tull (eight points), Annie Mai (five points, two assists and two steals) and Christina Zdenek (two points).

UCI shot 30.7% from the field (23 for 75), while Cal Poly finished 27 of 56 from the field (48.2%).

Cal Poly committed 14 of its 20 turnovers in the second half, but won the rebounding battle, 51-34. In three games this season, Cal Poly produced a 145-101 rebounding advantage against UCI.

Kristina Santiago, a 6-2 freshman center, had 21 points and 11 rebounds for Cal Poly. She was six of seven from the field and nine of 12 from the foul line.

Lisa McBride, a 6-2 junior had 12 points and 11 rebounds, while 6-0 backup Rebecca Trotter (nine points and eight boards) and 6-2 reserve Nicole Yarwasky (seven points) helped contribute to the inside onslaught by the winners.

“I think Santiago, who has [averaging 15.6 points and 9.3 rebounds the last eight games she has played at least 25 minutes] is playing like one of the top five or six players in the conference,” Mimnaugh said.

“It has been a pretty disappointing season, across the board, and it was real disappointing today,” Tuter said.

Big West Conference

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 76,

UC Irvine 61

UCI – Duda 6, Cochran 5, Maessen 13, Mai 5, Ishizaki 3, Forry 8, Tull 8, Theus 4, Strings 4, Ke. Johnson 3, Zdenek 2.

3-pt. goals – Maessen 2, Forry 1, Mai 1, Ishizaki 1.

CPSLO – Harrison 11, Santiago 21, McBride 12, S. Anderson 2, Tratter 9, Yarwasky 7, Newman 6, Asplund 6, Howell 2.

3-pt. goals – Asplund 2, Harrison 1, Yarwasky 1.

Halftime – CPSLO, 37-19.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].