Box Score Albuquerque, NM—Brittany Crain poured in 31 points Saturday evening as the UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team beat the host Lobos, 70-62, to win the New Mexico Thanksgiving Tournament Championship. In doing so, the Highlanders ran their record to 5-0 on the season for the first time since the 1990-91 campaign.

Crain scored 66 points in the two tournament games and was named Tournament MVP. Simone DeCoud averaged 12 points and six assists over the weekend and joined Crain on the All-Tournament Team.

New Mexico jumped out to an early lead scoring 10 of the first 12 points of the game as the Highlanders missed their first three shots from the floor. It was still an eight-point Lobos lead with 15:20 to go in the first, when Crain got hot, scoring nine of UC Riverside's next 11 points to put the Highlanders up one, 17-16.

Neither team led by more than five points the rest of the first half, and the teams entered the locker room tied at 33. Crain led all scorers at the break with 14 points on five of nine shooting from the field.

The Lobos scored the first points of the second half on an Antiesha Brown lay up to go back up by two, but that was their last lead of the game. The score was tied on three occasions in the final 20 minutes of play, with the last coming with 11:36 remaining. Crain drained a three with 10:45 on the clock to give the Highlanders a lead they would never relinquish.

Three minutes later, an 8-0 UC Riverside run gave the Highlanders their largest lead of the game at 10, 67-57, and they kept the Lobos at arms length the rest of the way to secure the eight-point win.

Crain scored 17 points after the break making seven of 13 shots from the floor and pushing her past the thirty-point plateau for the third time this season. Crain also passed Tawanna Terry into 13th place on the Highlanders career scoring charts, and she now has 1,079 points in her career. Next up on the list are Beck Gesson (1,081) in 12th place, and Ronëy Friend (1,088) in 11th.

Annelise Ito scored 14 points, including eight in the second half, while DeCoud added 12. Brown's 16 points paced the Lobos, while Josie Greenwood chipped in with 15 and Khadijah Shumpert scored 11.

The Highlanders return to the Golden State taking on Fresno State on December 4 at 7 pm PT in Fresno, CA.