The No. 3 UC Davis Women’s Basketball team (21-11, 13-7) defeated No. 2 UC Irvine (21-10, 15-5) 63-56 in the semifinals of the 2025 Hercules Tires Big West Women’s Basketball Championships at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev. The game ended Irvine’s season and advanced Davis to the Big West Championship.
The two teams had history in the tournament, having met in the Big West Championship last season, where UC Irvine came out on top 53-39. Before March 14, UC Irvine had won all four of the previous matchups.
UC Davis came out firing on all cylinders, scoring the first five points of the game. Senior guard Nikki Tom led the charge for the Anteaters, scoring on a midrange jumper by attacking a dribble closeout.
The Davis offense was powered by senior guard Tova Sabel and redshirt junior center Megan Norris. Norris knocked down two three-pointers, punishing Irvine’s late defensive rotations. Davis senior forward Mazatlan Harris connected on a wing three, forcing a timeout from head coach Tamara Inoue and giving the Aggies an early 13-2 lead.
Out of the timeout, UC Irvine switched to its patented full-court press, hoping to speed up the Aggie offense. The defensive switch was effective, as UCI managed to cut the Davis lead to eight.
From 4:55 to 1:48 in the first quarter, the score remained at 15-7, with neither team able to gain an offensive edge. A pair of freethrows from UC Davis redshirt junior guard Victoria Baker pushed the lead back up to 10. The quarter closed with Davis maintaining a 19-9 lead.
The second quarter began with the ‘Eaters working the ball inside to senior point guard Déja Lee, who finished the layup through the Davis contest.
Three triples from freshman guard Ryann Bennett, Sabel and Harris pushed the Aggie lead to 17 with 7:02 left in the quarter, the largest lead of the game.
Timely buckets from Sabel buried the Anteater defense, including a contested midrange jumpshot that extended the lead to 30-11.
With 3:32 left in the second quarter, Lee was issued a flagrant foul, sending Bennett to the Davis locker room after a scrum for the ball.
The two teams traded threes to end the quarter, with Irvine junior guard Ines Gnahore and Davis junior guard Nya Epps scoring for their respective squads.
The half ended with Davis up 35-16. For both teams, the three-point shooting told two different stories. Davis was hot from outside, going 7-for-13 in the first half. Irvine, on the other hand, struggled, shooting 1-for-13 from distance.
In the third quarter, the ‘Eaters broke out of their shooting slump, going on an 8-0 run. Lee and junior guard Hunter Hernandez each knocked down a three-pointer during this stretch.
The Anteaters’ defense was relentless. Hernandez ripped the ball away from Davis senior guard Sydney Burns before finishing the transition with an inside-hand layup, forcing a UCD timeout.
After the timeout, Hernandez rotated on defense and took a charge on an Epps drive, waving away the potential Davis layup. On the next play down, Lee sank a deep three, cutting the Aggie lead to eight.
Harris steadied the ship for UC Davis during the Anteater surge, scoring on two freethrows to halt the run. A few possessions later, Harris faked a dribble handoff and drove to the basket for a layup.
With the Anteaters down 41-28, UCI senior guard Amelia Scharpf scored back-to-back buckets, working the pick-and-roll to dissect the Davis defense.
UC Irvine cut the lead down to five with 1:16 remaining after an and-one layup from Lee.
The quarter ended with Davis clinging onto a 47-42 lead.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, senior forward Nevaeh Dean found Lee cutting to the basket for a layup. Davis responded with Norris cleaning up a missed Epps layup for a putback.
The two teams battled, with Hernandez and Sabel trading midrange jumpers.
Irvine cut the lead down to two after a Hernandez leaning jumper. On the next play, Anteater sophomore forward Summah Hanson was fouled on a layup attempt and went to the line where she split a pair of freethrows.
Through the five-minute mark in the fourth quarter, UC Davis led 53-50.
After a media timeout, Gnahore drove to her right hand and finished with a scoop layup, chipping the lead down to one.
Whenever the Aggies needed a shot, Sabel delivered. With the shot clock winding down, she sank a stepback three, pushing the Davis lead back up to four. After an Anteater offensive foul, Sabel raced down the court, faked a pass to Norris and finished the layup herself, giving UCD a 58-52 lead with 2:19 remaining.
Irvine freshman guard Lauryn Madsen dimed a cutting Hernandez for an and-one layup, subsequently fouling out Sabel.
After a timeout, Epps got the switch on Dean, drove left and finished a layup. On the next Irvine possession, Gnahore rose up for a jumpshot but was blocked by Harris, sealing off any chance of an Anteater comeback.
UC Davis went on to win 63-56, ending the season for the Anteaters.
Despite multiple efforts and runs, Irvine never managed to grab the lead at any point during the contest.
After the game, UC Davis head coach Jennifer Gross spoke about the motivation her team felt after last season’s championship loss to Irvine.
“Watching another team cut down the nets last year sticks with you. It motivates you, it drives you,” Gross said in the postgame press conference.
Inoue reflected on the impact of her seniors on the program and the community.
“I’ll never forget how I’ve become a much better coach and a much better person because of those guys. They’ll always be in my conversations … Those names will be recycled over and over again,” Inoue said in the postgame press conference. “I’m so thankful for all of them and their families.”
To cap off the tournament, UC Davis will play UC San Diego in the Big West finals at 3 p.m. at Lee’s Family Forum on March 15.
Jaden Hunter is a Sports Staff Writer. He can be reached at jadenh2@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Jaheem Conley