Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
UC Irvine
Wildcats Snap Losing Streak
12/15/2008 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
OGDEN, Utah -- Tonya Schnibbe scored or assisted on 17 of Weber State's final 21 points to lead a late rally as the Wildcats pulled away from UC Irvine for a 66-53 win at the Dee Events Center on Monday night. The win snapped a three-game losing streak by WSU.
"Tonya's play is huge for us," said WSU head coach Carla Taylor. "The leadership and confidence she displays on the court is a big key to our success. It's really fun as a coach to have someone like that on the court running the team."
The Wildcats jumped on the Anteaters early, scoring the first nine points, and took an 11-point lead at 13-2 just 5:15 into the contest.
At the 9:34 mark of the first half, Irvine's Kirian Ishizaki hit a jumper to start a 9-0 run that was capped by a Mary Has three-pointer just two minutes and 32 seconds later. The run cut the Wildcat lead to a pair, but WSU's Ali Thorderson led a 6-0 spurt to answer, putting the 'Cats back in front by eight. Weber State took a 23-18 lead into halftime.
The Anteaters came out the aggressors in the second period, using a 17-6 run to open the half to take a six-point lead with 13:23 remaining. The Wildcats clawed back to take a four-point lead at the 9:39 mark, but Rebecca Maessen answered for UCI with a three to cut the lead to 43-42.
The 'Eaters retook the lead at 46-45 on another trey from Has, but from that point Schnibbe took over for the Wildcats and WSU outscored Irvine 20-3. Schnibbe scored nine points, dished out two assists and made two steals during the stretch.
The 'Cats played most of the first half without Schnibbe, as she saw only four minutes of action due to early foul trouble. Ali Thorderson scored 10 of her game-high 19 points in the opening period to lead the 'Cats without their starting point guard. Thorderson also matched three other players with a game-high six rebounds.
Schnibbe finished with 16 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the floor. She also led all players with seven assists, grabbed three rebounds and made three steals.
Sarah Conner came off the bench to score 10 points and dish out four assists, and Joey O'Neill matched Thorderson's six rebounds while providing solid play in the post for the 'Cats.
"A big key for us tonight was that we finally got a post presence," said Taylor. "Joey O'Neill came up big on both ends of the floor for us. Her effort was much bigger than her stat line shows."
Maessen and Has led the Anteaters with 16 and 19 points, respectively. Has and Keyonna Johnson also tied for game-high rebounding honors with six each.
"Irvine is a scrappy team and they played very aggressive on-ball defense tonight," said Taylor. "They took the lead in the second half, but we reacted much better than we have been lately in similar circumstances. We made our stand defensively and that led to good things on the offensive end. I have to really give our team credit. They bought in to really practicing hard the last few days and it really paid off tonight."
