Cal Poly loses to UC Irvine at Big West semifinal in women’s basketball
LAS VEGAS, Nevada, -
With a trip to the Big West Title Game on the line, Cal Poly battled to obtain a lead over the second-seeded UC Irvine women's basketball team with under five-and-a-half minutes to play on Friday evening, but the Anteaters prevailed down the stretch, 68-59 in Michelob Ultra Arena.
Sophomore guard Abbey Ellis netted 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting (including 2-of-4 from deep) for Cal Poly (finishing 13-11 overall), during a close matchup which saw six lead exchanges and seven tied scores throughout.Cal Polys Kirsty Brown secures a rebound against UCI in Las Vegas at the 2021 BWC Tournament on March 12.
With the semifinal clash tied at 55-all, Mustang senior guard Malia Holt drove for a go-ahead layup off the glass with 5:27 remaining.
UC Irvine (15-8), following a free throw by Chloe Webb at the 4:02 mark of the fourth quarter, re-took the lead thanks to a Victoria Baker put-back plus the foul (adding the free throw) to make it 59-57 with 3:47 left.
From there, neither team scored until 1:48 remained, when Sophia Locandro converted another And-1 bucket inside the key, and also added the free throw, pushing UCI's advantage to 62-57.
Ellis came up with an offensive rebound and proceeded to sink a reverse put-back layup with 46 seconds on the clock to narrow the gap to a one-possession game — at 62-59 — but Baker was able to draw a foul eight seconds later and went on to make both free throws.
The Mustangs' ensuing look at a 3 caromed off with 29 seconds to go, into the arms of Webb, who knocked down two more free throws late to push the deficit to 66-59.
Cal Poly had sprinted out to a 16-7 lead following the opening quarter, before Irvine steadily began mounting its comeback to pull within 34-31 at the break, and then tying matters, 48-48 heading into the fourth.
Redshirt sophomore guard Maddie Vick had an 11-point evening on 5-of-9 shooting for the Mustangs, who were playing in the program's third semifinals in four years.
With the victory, UCI moved on to face defending champs and top-seeded UC Davis at 5 p.m. Saturday. ESPN3 will televise the final from Mandalay Bay.
Ellis upped her career scoring total through two seasons to 818 points, already good for 24th-most in school history.
Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics
