Tempe, AZ—Facing UNLV (4-2) on day one of the ASU Classic Saturday, the UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team (2-6) enjoyed one of its best offensive performances of all-time, shooting a blistering 59.3 percent from the field in a 95-88 win. The 95 points were the third-most in the program's Division I era.
KEY RUNS
The Highlanders came out firing in the first, going on a 14-4 run capped off by a Lauren Holt triple to make it 26-14 with 2:04 to go. UC Riverside would shoot 12-of-16 (.750) in the opening period, taking a 30-18 lead into the second.
UCR took its largest lead of the season, 85-66, with 5:35 to go in the fourth. The Lady Rebels answered with a 14-1 run, closing the gap to as little as six on multiple occasions over the final minutes.
GAME NOTES
Redshirt senior guard Lauren Holt led all scorers with a career-high 28 points (10-16 FG), scoring 11 in the first quarter alone. Her previous scoring-high came when she played for Portland State, scoring 25 points against Southern Utah on Mar. 7, 2015.
Holt—who also had five assists—has now scored at least 22 points in two of her last three outings. She has eight 20-point scoring performances since the start of last year, most of any current Highlander.
Senior guard Michelle Curry finished with multiple career-highs, scoring 27 points (9-16 FG) and dishing out 12 assists. It was the sixth double-double of Curry's career. The Los Angeles, California native also went 8-of-9 (.889) on free throws, and added a season-high three steals.
Nine of Curry's assists came before halftime, easily besting the previous Highlander-high for assists in a game this season (5). Curry directed a Highlander offense that shot 20-for-29 (.690) in the first half.
That was UCR's most efficient shooting half since it shot 69.6 percent against UCSB on Feb. 16, 2017 (
box score/
recap). Of the seven Highlanders that took a shot in the first half, six of them finished the opening 20 minutes shooting at least 50 percent.
UC Riverside's 59.3 percent (35-59 FG) shooting mark for the game is tied for the fourth-highest single-game shooting percentage in program history.
The Highlanders finished the day with four double-digit scorers—also a season-best. Guard Jannon Otto put up 14 points (6-10 FG) to go along with eight boards. Forward Skyler Lewis also scored 14 (5-9 FG), grabbing ten rebounds.
Lewis now has three double-doubles and five double-digit rebounding performances this year.
The hot start for the Highlanders saw them score 30 points in a quarter for the second time in their last four games. It was also just the 6th 30-point quarter in team history.
UCR finished the day with 29 assists, tied for 7th-most in program history. Four players finished with season-highs in assists: Curry (12), Holt (5), Clémence Lefebvre (5), and Lewis (4).
Despite the offensive efficiency, UC Riverside struggled to keep UNLV off the line, allowing the Lady Rebels to go 28-for-42 on free throws. The 42 attempts allowed tied a season-high. However, the Highlanders did knock down 21 free throws—eight more than their previous season-high—while shooting at an efficient 80.8 percent clip (21-for-26).
UC Riverside will close out its seven game road trip tomorrow, facing the winner between Buffalo and Arizona State. The Highlanders will either face Buffalo at 11 am PT, or the host Sun Devils at 1:30 pm PT.
