The UC Irvine women’s basketball team has been hit hard by injuries this season, but the squad had been able to play through them – until now.
Indicating that they would not have enough available players, the Anteaters on Friday canceled their next two games: Saturday at UC Davis and Monday against Cal Poly.
“With the health and well-being of our student-athletes as our top priority and due to a limited number of available healthy student-athletes we, in collaboration with our sports medicine team, have decided to cancel our upcoming games against UC Davis and Cal Poly,” UCI athletic director Paula Smith said in a statement.
The games will not be rescheduled and will be declared no-contests per Big West Conference policy.
UCI’s next scheduled game is now Thursday, Feb. 23 at UC San Diego.
The Anteaters’ injuries have been piling up for weeks and Thursday night provided the latest.
Hunter Hernandez – the team’s leading scorer and rebounder this season – was carried off the court after the sophomore guard suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury on a drive down the lane during the final minute of regulation in their overtime victory against UC Santa Barbara.
UCI (20-5 overall, 12-2 Big West) had already lost two starters to season-ending injuries during conference play, and there was immediate fear Thursday night that Hernandez might become the third. The team kept its composure and dominated overtime to beat the third-place Gauchos, but the latest injury clearly shook up Coach Tamara Inoue, who said she was “a mess” after Hernandez went down.
Inoue has credited her players for the way they have handled adversity.
“Many people would have quit and just let them win,” Inoue said after Thursday’s win. “This team, these players, they’re special. For them to get on it themselves and be there for each other, and ride as one – they’re going to be very successful in life.”
“Because they were just given a very difficult task that I couldn’t handle myself, and they handled it. And they won the game.”
UCI is in second place in the Big West, a half-game behind first-place Long Beach State (18-7, 13-2). The Anteaters split the season series with LBSU, so the possibility of a shared regular-season title seemed realistic if each team won out.
Fans who have already purchased tickets for Monday’s game can request a refund through the Ticket Office by contacting tickets@uci.edu.
