ANAHEIM, Calif. – Senior guard Michelle Curry recorded her third straight 20-point, 10-rebound double-double on Friday in UC Riverside's (11-22, 6-10) Big West Tournament Semifinal matchup with No. 1 UC Davis (25-2, 14-2). Unfortunately for the Highlanders, the Aggies ended the game on a 9-1 run, taking a 49-46 win to advance to the Big West Championship game.
"It's been a great journey. I was determined. We fell short, but my determination never went away," Curry said. "The team played hard. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be where we're at today. Everybody put in a lot of work to get here. Our season really didn't reflect what this team really is, but we showed a lot today."
Concluding what has been a record-setting week, Curry (21 points, 10 rebounds) became the first Highlander ever to record either three double-doubles or three 20-point performances in the same postseason. She ends her fourth Big West Tournament with averages of 27 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and 10 free throws (83.3 percent) per game.
"She's a better person than she is a basketball player, seriously," Head Coach John Margaritis said. "She just played hard, and her ability showed. She can only go for so many minutes, but she pushed herself beyond that, and played well. She's a very special young lady, and I will miss her, obviously."
The Highlanders entered the fourth quarter leading 33-30 and would stay ahead until the final minute. Clutch buckets and free throws from freshman Tianna Eaton and senior Inara Nyingifa helped keep UCR's slim advantage alive, as Nyingifa's and-one with 2:34 to go gave her team its largest lead of the fourth, 45-40.
That would be UC Riverside's last field goal of the day. Davis scored the next five points to tie things at 45-45, and had the ball with a chance to take its first lead of the quarter with less than 40 seconds remaining.
An Aggie turnover on a strip by sophomore Jannon Otto led to a Highlander fast break, and Curry was sent to the line after a hard foul with 21 seconds on the clock. Curry split the pair of free throws, and after a timeout, Davis junior Morgan Bertsch scored quickly to put the Aggies up 47-46.
The Highlanders were unable to convert on their next two possessions, but Davis left the door open by splitting two pairs of free throws. Needing a three-pointer to tie things with no timeouts and only three seconds left, UC Riverside was unable to get off a final shot attempt.
"We came out pretty hard, pretty strong, even though we fell short," Nyingifa said. "I think everybody, even down to the last play, thought that we could still pull it through. We just played as hard as we could."
UCR became the first Big West team this season to hold the Aggies under 60 points – let alone 50 points – frustrating the conference's regular season champs for much of the day. The Highlanders held Davis to 35.7 percent (5-14 FG) in the first quarter and just 22.2 percent (2-9 FG) in the second.
UC Riverside outscored Davis 7-4 in a very sluggish second period. It was the lowest-scoring quarter of the season for the Aggies.
After a slow start, UCR made its last five shots of the first quarter and would open the second on a 7-0 run. The Highlanders took their largest lead of the game, 23-13, on a three-pointer by Lauren Holt with 5:01 left in the opening half.
Nyingifa came up just one rebound short of her first career double-double, scoring a career-high 11 points (4-8 FG) and pulling down nine boards. No other Highlander reached double-figures in the scoring department.
Curry – who entered the Semifinals without a three-point attempt in the postseason – connected on her first three shots from beyond the arc, setting a new career-high before halftime. Prior to Friday, she had just two career games where she made two three-pointers.
The loss concludes an up-and-down season for the Highlanders, who saved their best basketball for the end of the year, highlighted by a 62-48 win over the Aggies on Senior Night (
Mar. 3). UC Riverside will say farewell to its top-two scorers in Curry and Holt, as well as seniors Clémence Lefebvre and Nyingifa, leaving opportunities for a talented but young supporting cast to step up heading into the fall.
"We're going to be a different team, obviously. We're relatively young, even now," Margaritis said. "We need to improve in some places so that we can have a more complete approach to our game. From how we defend, to how we rebound, attack, and handle pressure, there's always something that we'll need to plug in those holes. If we do so, we can be competitive going into next year."
