Jade Smith-Wiillaims Pours In Career-High 33 Points To Lead UCI Past Long Beach State
Jan. 21, 2010
Irvine, Calif. -- Jade Smith-Williams poured in a career-high 33 points to lead UC Irvine to a 68-61 victory over Long Beach State at the Bren Center Thursday.
UC Irvine goes to 6-13 overall and 3-4 in the Big West, while Long Beach State falls to 7-11 on the year and 3-3 in league play. The Anteater win is only the ninth all-time against the Forty-Niners (9-47) and gives UCI two points in the Black & Blue Rivalry Series presented by Duke's of Huntington Beach.
Guard Jade Smith Williams was 9-14 from the floor, including 5-9 from three-point range and 10-10 from the free throw line for her career and game-high 33 points. The 33 points is the second most in the Big West this season. Forward Mikah Maly-Karros recorded her league-leading sixth double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. She scored 12 of her points in the second half. Guard Rebecca Maessen added 13 points, five rebounds and two steals. Freshman forward Jazmyne White pulled down nine rebounds to go with four points.
Long Beach State was led by Karina Figueroa with 18 points. Figueroa was 5-10 from the floor, 7-8 from the free throw line and shared the team lead in rebounds with six. Ally Wade pitched in 11 points, while Tipesa Moorer had six rebounds.
The Anteaters beat the Forty-Niners on the boards, 39-37 and knocked down a season-high seven three-pointers.
After the score was tied at 13-13, UCI went on a 14-5 run, which included seven points by Rebecca Maessen, to open a 27-18 advantage, its largest lead of the half at 5:08. Long Beach State would battle back scoring nine unanswered capped by a layup by Brett Timmons to tie the game for the fourth time at 27-27 with 1:39 remaining. A three-pointer by Jade Smith-Williams was followed by a free throw by Mikah Maly-Karros to give UCI the 31-27 halftime lead.
Mikah Maly-Karros hit three free-throws to give UCI a 51-38 lead with 10:33 remaining, but that would be the last point the Anteaters would score for over five minutes allowing Long Beach to tie the game 51-51 on three free throws by Lauren Sims at 5:52. UCI's Jade Smith-Williams stopped the draught with a pair of free throws at 5:08 to regain a 53-51 cushion. The Anteaters would never trail again, out-scoring the Forty-Niners 15-10 to end the game. Smith-Williams was a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe in the final two minutes of the game.
UCI travels to UC Riverside Saturday for a 5:00 p.m. game at the Student Recreation Center.
