UC Riverside
Pacific
Women's Basketball Extends Home Winning Streak with 65-56 Victory Over Pacific
1/10/2009 5:44:43 PM | Women's Basketball
(Riverside, CA) - Ronéy Friend (Los Angeles, CA) scored 17 points as the UC Riverside women's basketball team defeated Pacific (8-7, 2-1) 65-56 in Big West Conference action on Saturday evening at the Student Recreation Center in Riverside. UCR is now 4-0 at home as they improve to 7-9 on the year and 3-1 in conference play.
Despite Pacific shooting 47.1 percent in the first half compared to UCR's 40.0 percent, the Highlanders took a 34-21 lead into the break by forcing 17 Tiger turnovers.
The Highlanders enjoyed a 17-7 lead early on, but a 12-0 run by Pacific over the next four minutes gave the Tigers a 19-17 advantage at the 9:17 mark. After trading baskets with Pacific, UCR held the Tigers scoreless for the remainder of the half as they went on a 15-0 run to close out the period.
In the second, UC Riverside pushed the lead out to 20 points, 45-25, at the 14:30 mark on a Friend jumper. UCR had an 18 point lead with 44 seconds remaining, but Pacific hit three consecutive shots and a free throw to close the gap to single digits, but ran out of time as UCR claimed the victory.
Friend scored a season-high tying 17 points on 8-of-13 from the field while Kemie Nkele (San Diego, CA) added 12 points and a game-high 8 rebounds.
The Highlanders travel to Cal State Northridge on Wednesday, Jan. 14 for a 7:00 pm Big West Conference matchup. Live game coverage is available online at www.gohighlanders.com.
Game Notes
The Highlanders first four conference games this season were against the four teams that defeated UCR at the end of last year: Cal Poly, UCSB, UCD, and Pacific. UCR is now 3-1 against those teams this season..
This game featured a showdown between the Big West's top two scorers, Pacific's Amber Simmons and UCR's Nkele.
