Box Score - UC Riverside 71, Pacific 59
Stockton, CA - A strong second half performance propelled the UC Riverside women's basketball team to a 71-59 victory at the University of Pacific in Big West Conference action at the Alex G. Spanos Center on Saturday afternoon.
UCR outscored the Tigers 41-26 and shot 68.0 percent in the second half to rebound from a loss on Thursday and get back in the winning column. The Highlanders improve to 5-3 in conference play and 8-13 overall, while Pacific falls to 3-16, 1-7.
Junior Alyssa Morris (pictured) posted her first-ever double-double as she scored a game-high 20 points and tied her career-high with 10 rebounds. Rhaya Neabors added 19 points while Brittany Waddell had 14 points and also tied her career-high with nine rebounds, and Marissa Rivera was just shy of her second double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
UCR used an 8-2 run in the opening minutes of the second half to take a 38-35 lead -- their first lead since the 4:03 mark in the first half. The Highlanders pushed their advantage out to seven with 12:38 to go and then made it a double-digit margin as they went on a 10-0 run over a five minute span to take a 65-51 lead with 4:22 remaining.
UC Riverside kept their double-digit advantage to close out the game as the Tigers never got closer than 10 down the stretch.
In the first half, the Tigers jumped out to an early 5-0 advantage before UCR went on an 8-2 run to take their first lead of the game, 8-7, off a Waddell layup at the 14:24 mark.
The Highlanders opened their largest lead of the half at 12-9 a minute later before both clubs traded buckets the next few possessions. Pacific would maintain between a one to five point advantage for most of the remainder of the half as they entered the break up 33-30.
For the game, the Highlanders shot 50.8 percent (30-of-59) from the field including 40.0 percent (4-of-10) from beyond the arc while limiting Pacific to just 36.7 percent (22-of-60). UCR out rebounded the Tigers 45 to 29 and had 21 second-chance points as opposed to just four for Pacific.
The Highlanders continue Big West play on Thursday, Feb. 4 with a 7:00 pm tip at Cal State Northridge.