Coming off of a Big West championship in 2023-2024, UC Irvine Women’s Basketball (0-1, 0-0) fell short against New Mexico State (1-0, 0-0) in their season opener at the Bren Events Center on Oct. 4.
The pregame Big West banner ceremony was a moment of celebration for the ‘Eaters, marking their first game back since winning the conference championship earlier this year. Last season, the women’s basketball team went 23-9 overall, culminating in a March Madness appearance and one of the most successful seasons in the program’s history.
Irvine’s junior guard Hunter Hernandez opened the scoring with a layup before a 6-0 scoring run by the Aggies in the first few minutes of the game. New Mexico maintained the lead throughout the first quarter until UCI senior guard Amelia Scharpf fired off a three at the buzzer to end the first quarter with a 15-14 Anteater lead.
Momentum appeared to shift in favor of the Anteaters, but the second quarter didn’t reflect this. UCI was outscored 16-4 in the quarter and went into halftime down 30-19.
On the other end of the court, a key player was New Mexico senior forward Fanta Gassama, who scored eight points in each of the first two quarters, ending the night with 22 total. Irvine, struggling on 22% shooting in the second quarter, did little to contain New Mexico as the Aggies managed to sustain a 40% clip through the first half of the game.
The Aggies extended their lead to 36-19 with back-to-back threes to start the second half — their largest lead of the game. The game began slipping away from Irvine, but a 16-2 run from a flurry of fouls on New Mexico kept the ball in the ‘Eaters hands and cut the deficit to 38-35. Although it seemed like the team had picked up momentum, the game plan remained unchanged.
“Nothing [changed], really. We had [Déja (DJ) Lee] back. I think she was in foul trouble early,” head coach Tamara Inoue told New University. “We sat her pretty much the whole second quarter. DJ, returning Player of the Year, makes a big difference with her intensity out there.”
During the rally, Irvine sophomore forward Summah Hanson also made a strong debut for the ‘Eaters. Hanson, who transferred from Sacramento State earlier this year, drilled two three-pointers and hit a layup during the spurt. She eventually finished the game with a team-leading 16 points.
“She’s gonna do everything you asked her to do, and more. She’s a winner, and I thought she did some good things,” Inoue said. “The shot attempts were perfect; we just need to keep working on the little things. She’s fitting in really well.”
Gassama slowed down slightly in the second half with six points, while graduate student guard Molly Kaiser put up 10 points in the second half to keep New Mexico in front.
Despite consistently responding in the fourth quarter with several clutch threes barely beating the shot clock, Irvine was unable to make up the deficit. Persistent scoring from the Aggies, led by Kaiser and Gassama, proved to be too much for the Anteaters. Hope for a comeback surged in the third quarter, but by the fourth quarter, Irvine was only able to keep their deficit from growing, ultimately falling 57-49 to the Aggies in their season opener.
Irvine looks to bounce back into the win column in their next match against Pepperdine at the Bren Events Center on Nov. 7.
Avery Rosas is a Sports Intern for the Fall 2024 quarter, he can be contacted at rosasaj1@uci.edu.
Edited by Benjamin Flores and Jaheem Conley.