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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
UC-Irvine
Players Mentioned
Women's Basketball Roars Past UC-Irvine in LMU Classic Opener, 83-42
November 27, 2015 | Women's Basketball
BOX SCORE
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. - Scoring early and often, the Princeton University women's basketball team never trailed in its LMU Thanksgiving Classic opener, cruising to a 83-42 victory over UC-Irvine at Gersten Pavilion.
Improving to 4-1 on the season, the Tigers will face the winner of Seattle and host Loyola Marymount in the championship game on Saturday, Nov. 28. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. (PST).
Playing to its size advantage, Princeton scored 10 of its first 13 points in the paint. Vanessa Smith and Michelle Miller combined to score nine of the game's first 10 points before back-to-back Amanda Berntsen layups gave the Tigers a 13-1 lead at the first media timeout. After a Miller jumper, UC-Irvine ended its field-goal drought on a Paulina Santana basket at 4:04. Princeton responded with an 11-5 run to close out the period. Miller had seven points during the stretch.
Finishing with 14 in the opening period, Miller picked up where she left off to start the second quarter, scoring four quick points. Brittany Glassow momentarily stemmed the tide with a bucket at 7:56, but a 9-2 Princeton spurt capped off by an Annie Tarakchian three-pointer staked the Tigers to a 27-point cushion midway through the frame.
Tarakchian opened the third quarter scoring with a three-pointer from the right corner. Following a Mokun Fajemisin layup, Miller rattled in a triple to push the Tiger margin to 54-22.
Miller led the Tigers with 21 points, six rebounds, and three blocks. Hitting eight of her 14 field goal attempts, Miller now needs just nine points to become the 23rd member of Princeton's 1,000-point club.
Posting her third double-double of the season, Tarakchian hit 5-of-10 shot attempts and 3-of-6 threes to finish with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Filling up the stat sheet, Berntsen was 4-of-5 from the floor with nine points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
Outscoring UCI 38-12 in the paint and nearly doubling up the Anteaters on the glass (54-33), Princeton shot 50.8 percent (32-63) from the field and 33.3 percent (7-21) from three-point range. Not allowing a single UCI player to score in double figures, the Tigers limited the Anteaters to 23.2 percent (16-69) shooting which included a 3-of-21 (14.3 percent) showing from long distance.