‘Eaters suffer second-half plunge

IRVINE — The logo for the Orange County Clash features a roller coaster speeding over the top of a basketball on its way to what appears to be a thrilling descent.

But the UC Irvine women, hosts of the event that concluded Monday at the Bren Events Center, executed their own version of free fall, plummeting in the second half of a 64-43 loss to Western Michigan.

While it took the Anteaters (3-8) more than 20 minutes to lose a halftime lead in Sunday’s 75-71 overtime loss to UNC Greensboro, the hosts needed just 95 seconds to surrender their 25-21 intermission advantage. But that, as it turned out, wasn’t the half of it.

Aided by UCI’s porous defense, the Broncos (4-7) scored the first 16 points after halftime to take command. And when Miame Giden sank a layup with 7:02 left in the game, the visitors had made an unfathomable 17 of their first 18 second-half field-goal attempts on their way to a 60-33 bulge.

“It certainly wasn’t a step forward,” said first-year UCI Coach Molly Goodenbour, who had been encouraged by improved play Thursday against Oregon State and against UNC Greensboro. “Our lack of consistency is frustrating. I felt like, [Sunday] night, we competed. We made a lot of mistakes, but we competed. In the first half of [Monday’s] game, we competed. But the way we came out after halftime, we might as well have stayed in the locker room. Where the competitiveness goes, it a bit of a mystery to me. I’m sure mental and physical fatigue plays a part in it, but we need to find a way to make that not such an insurmountable obstacle for us.”

The Broncos faced little obstacles from UCI defenders, as their half-court sets produced frequent layups during the early second-half outburst. And, after mixing in two three-pointers amid their first 13 field goals after the break, the Broncos netted three straight from threedom to up the lead to 27.

The lead swelled to 29, before UCI scored the final eight points to slice into the deficit.

Sophomore Raquel Theus scored all six of her points in the final 9:24 and added six rebounds for the Anteaters, as she continues to earn more playing time off the bench.

“Rocky was a bright spot,” Goodenbour said. “She’s coming along a little bit.”

Goodenbour also praised the late contributions of freshman Kiara Belen (three points and three rebounds), but was reluctant to pinpoint other positives.

“I wish I saw more [positives],” she said. “[In the postgame address] we talked about consistency, effort and being able to turn things around when they start to go wrong, instead of just having them continue to spiral down.

“We didn’t execute well defensively [after halftime] like we did in the first half. Then, once they started to score, we had no ability to kind of dig our heels in and turn things around.”

Junior Rebecca Maessen followed up Sunday’s strong performance — 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists before fouling out having played 40 minutes — with a team-high 13 points on her way to all-tournament honors. Maessen made her first three shots, including a three-pointer, to help UCI post a 12-5 lead.

Western Michigan used a 6-0 run to trim a 22-15 deficit to one, but junior guard Mary Has sank a 50-foot three-pointer from just outside midcourt to beat the halftime buzzer in what turned out to be the Anteaters’ last feel-good moment.

Has finished with 12 points and a team-best seven rebounds, but also had six of the hosts’ 24 turnovers.

Junior Kelly Cochran, still battling a knee ailment that has slowed her progress since a sterling freshman campaign, had four points in nine minutes off the bench.

Senior Kirian Ishizaki, who had 12 points and seven rebounds Sunday after scoring a career-high 16 Thursday against Oregon State, had two points and one rebound in 17 foul-plagued minutes Monday.

UCI was just seven of 24 from the field after halftime (29.2%) to finish at 34% for the game.

Western Michigan was 18 of 26 from the field in the final 20 minutes (69.2%) and had just 11 turnovers.

Sara Vest and Brenna Bankston each had 13 points to lead four Broncos in double figures.

UCI returns to action Sunday, when it plays host to Yale at 4 p.m.

Orange County Clash

Round robin Western Michigan 64, UC Irvine 43

WM – Iaquaniello 0, Vest 13, Delahoussaye 6, Dreher 0, Dwyer 0, Bankston 13, M. Giden 12, Loney 12, Cleary 8.

3-pt. goals – Loney 3, Bankston 1.

Fouled out – None.

UCI – Maessen 13, Ishizaki 2, Barnes 1, Has 12, Ke. Johnson 0, Theus 6, Cochran 4, Belen 3, Petrovic 2.

3-pt. goals – Has 2, Maessen 1.

Fouled out – None.

Halftime – UCI, 25-21.

(Sunday)

UNC Greensboro 76,

UC Irvine 71 (OT)

UNCG – Hyson 20, Floyd 14, Grimsley 10, Leigh 9, Smith 8, Corbett 6, Girstautaite 4, Banner 3, Folwell 2.

3-pt. goals – Leigh 2, Grimsley 1, Hyson 1.

Fouled out – None.

UCI – Maessen 22, Ishizaki 12, Barnes 6, Has 11, Ke. Johnson 4, Belen 7, Theus 6, Cochran 3.

3-pt. goals – Maessen 2, Has 2.

Fouled out – Maessen, Ishizaki, Has.

Halftime – UCI, 36-27.