Highlanders Open at Home With Decisive 74-51 Win Against Fresno Pacific

Thursday, December 10

Riverside, Calif.

4:00 PM

UC Riverside

1-1,0-0Big West

Fresno Pacific (Calif.)

0-2,0-0PacWest

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Fresno Pacific	15	8	17	11	51
UC Riverside	15	24	22	13	74

Highlanders Open at Home With Decisive 74-51 Win Against Fresno Pacific

12/10/2020 8:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Presented by Altura Credit Union

Riverside, CA-The University of California, Riverside Highlanders women's basketball squad secured a decisive 74-51 win in their home opener of the 2020-21 season at the SRC Arena against the Fresno Pacific University (FPU) Sunbirds.

Fresno Pacific started the game strong, grabbing an early lead in the first quarter until Bryanna Brady made a layup to tie it up at 13-13, erasing the final lead the Sunbirds would have on the night.

Head Coach Nicole Powell's strong shooters took over in the second quarter, and paired with an effective defense, sparked a 24-8 second period to restore order in the SRC Arena.

Coach reflected on her first win in the home opener of the unique 2020-21 season saying, "I'm really proud of our team tonight. The most important thing is that we are better now than we were one week ago, and that's what this is about. It's about improving every day and seeing that improvement." She continued, "I think we executed better offensively, and we are starting to understand what our identity is as a team."

Similar to her performance last week in the season opener against CBU, Keilanei Cooper (8-15 fg, 2-3 3pts, 5-6 ft) led the young Highlanders with 15-of her game-high 23 points in the first half. Coach Powell has started three freshman student-athletes alongside the senior Cooper and redshirt Junior Daphne Gnago in both games this season.

Cruising into the second half with a 39-23 lead,UC Riverside maintained control of the game and prevented FPU from getting within striking distance.

Cooper finished the evening with a pair of game-highs; 23 points and 3 assists. Cooper commented on the win saying, "This was a great win for our team. The more games we play, the better. We have a young team, but we will mature faster with more experience." On being the team's lone senior this season she said, "I'm accepting that it's my role to lead and help our team grow. Now, we focus on our next opponent and what we can do better next time."

The Highlanders will host Santa Clara in the SRC Arena on December 23 with a 2:00 pm tip-off to close out their pre-conference schedule.