Callaway to the rescue

Richard Dunn

On an evening with promotions, gags and giveaways, the simple

things -- like passing to an open teammate -- mattered most for the

UC Irvine women’s basketball team Saturday night.

With junior forward and media darling Christina Callaway scoring a

career-high 25 points, the host Anteaters, who won only eight games

last season, sealed their ninth victory of 2002-03 with a sweet blend

of team passing and boxing-out rebounding as they defeated UC

Riverside, 79-72, in a Big West Conference game before 917 fans, a

season-high attendance figure that included several National Junior

Basketball girls dressed in their uniforms.

And, with a week to go until they play again -- they travel to

Idaho next Saturday -- Coach Mark Adams’ Anteaters didn’t want to

spend all that time thinking about an upset loss to the Highlanders

(3-11, 0-3 in conference), who rallied more than once to keep it

close the whole way.

“Last year, we all played as individuals. We were all very

selfish,” said Callaway, who missed her sixth double-double of the

season by one rebound, while shooting 12 of 19 from the floor (6 of 7

in the second half) and adding three steals and one assist. Perhaps

it was the assist that mattered most.

“We had 24 assists and only 12 turnovers tonight -- that’s pretty

remarkable,” said Adams.

“When you have a 2-to-1 ratio like that, it tells you that you’re

sharing the ball, moving the ball and getting it to the open person

really well.”

All seven regulars recorded at least one assist for UCI, with 5-5

sophomore guard Lisa Faulkner (10 points) leading the charge with

nine.

Kristen Green (12 points) dished out six for Irvine.

It was a game in which UCI (9-5, 2-1) probably should have run

away and hid from the Highlanders, but poor shooting from the

free-throw line (10 of 25, including missing its first nine attempts)

kept that from happening.

“That’s ridiculous,” Adams said of his team’s foul shooting. “If

we hit our free throws, we put that game away a long time ago. And a

lot of those misses were front ends of one-and-one.”

Still, the Anteaters wouldn’t budge when UC Riverside fired its

best shots. After six ties and nine lead changes in the first half,

Irvine settled for a 39-38 halftime edge. UCI led, 18-11, but the

Highlanders came back with an 11-1 scoring spurt to take the lead

with 10:09 left.

UCI led the entire way in the second half, building its biggest

lead of the game, 77-66, with 0:50 remaining. But the Highlanders

stole two inbound passes and converted quick layups in the final

minute to force an Anteater timeout.

“We didn’t take care of the last few possessions,” Adams said.

“But all the wins are good wins, because there aren’t any easy ones.

We’re 2-1 in conference and I don’t know if we were ever above .500

in conference last year.”

Callaway, who found every block of the key from which to shoot,

led four Anteaters in double-digit scoring, followed by Wendy Gabbe

(18 points), Green and Faulkner.

“In the first half, we weren’t playing defense very well,”

Callaway said. “But in the second half, we started playing better. We

were passing better and seeing each other better.”

The reason for UCI’s turnaround this season is also simple. “We

did a lot of bonding,” Callaway said. “We’re more like family now,

and more together.”

Callaway, whose previous best scoring effort was 23 points this

season and 14 last year, sank her first four field-goal attempts in

the second half to keep the hosts ahead of the rally-minded

Highlanders.

UC Riverside hit two three-pointers to cut UCI’s lead to 61-60

with 6:32 to play, but Callaway converted a layup and foul shot on

Irvine’s next trip down and the Highlanders never got closer.