Maly-Karros shines in UCI triumph

IRVINE — For 12 months, Mikah Maly-Karros wasn’t allowed to compete in the game she loves most.

It wasn’t until this week, the UC Irvine sophomore transfer from Loyola Marymount was able to have a basketball in her hands again during live action. It wasn’t until Saturday, she played in her Bren Events Center debut.

Those who knew her became reacquainted with the 6-foot-1 forward with the strong post moves. The rest of the people discovered just how much she missed the game.

Maly-Karros led all players with 28 points and 11 rebounds in the Anteaters’ 87-73 nonconference win over Eastern Washington. She played with emotion and the energy apparently carried on to her teammates.

“It feels so good,” she said of her return after sitting out a year per NCAA rules for transfers. “It’s so hard to sit there and watch your team, especially if we’re not winning. To be able to go out there and help them out felt so good. I’ve been practicing for a year, so that’s really tough. But finally I got to play and I’m just real excited.”

Her excitement was easily seen late in the first half when she led the Anteaters (3-7) on a 21-4 run. She scored nine points during the final 6 minutes, 30 seconds that helped UCI take a 37-31 lead into the break.

“She has the ability to score,” ’Eaters Coach Molly Goodenbour said of her new forward. “She’s a little bit unorthodox, but she can establish her position in the post and she can go strong and finish ... She forced them to make some adjustments defensively to her.”

It really didn’t take long for Maly-Karros to make the adjustment from Los Angeles to Irvine. Her move to Orange County came at the advice of her club coach Russ Davis, who’s also the head man at Vanguard.

Maly-Karros said it wasn’t a good fit for her at LMU. She committed to the Lions early, when she was 16. She really didn’t take interest in any other colleges after she graduated from Mira Costa High, where she was the school’s all-team leader in points with 2,256 and rebounds with 1,817. The latter broke Lisa Leslie’s CIF Southern Section rebounding record.

She said Davis told her a new coach was coming to UCI and to check it out.

“It completely changed my life,” Maly-Karros said of transferring to UCI. “It’s one of the best decisions I ever made. It’s like a perfect fit here. I never thought it would be that way because Molly is so disciplined and she’s very particular. And, I’ve never played well for coaches like that. But with her it’s just totally different.”

It appears the coach and player have a good relationship. After the game, Goodenbour told the media that Maly-Karros had been practicing with the team for the past year.

“She even knows some of the plays now,” Goodenbour said as she smiled at Maly-Karros.

The plays were easy against Eastern Washington (6-5). The Anteaters continually fed Maly-Karros in the post. That opened up shots for her teammates and helped UCI attack the Eagles, who were only left to foul.

The Anteaters hit a school-record 45 free throws out of 55 attempts, another best for the program. That was 12 more made than the old school mark from 2006 and seven more attempted than the record from 1993. UCI’s 87 points was also noteworthy because it was the most since the Anteaters scored 89 against Utah Valley State on Jan. 9, 2007.

Maly-Karros, who did not start, hit 16 of her 23 free throws in her second game with UCI. Senior guard Rebecca Maessen was nine for 10 from the free-throw line on her way to a season-high 18 points. Junior guard Jade Smith-Williams, who hit nine of 11 from the charity stripe, scored 15 points, and junior center Kim Barnes, who mad all eight of her free-throw attempts, contributed 12 points.

Nonconference

UC Irvine 87,

Eastern Washington 73

EWU – Piper 6, Scott 13, Evans 9, Ryan 1, Huntington 7, Nolen 7, Cooper 9, Schoening 3, Sparavalo 13, Ojeda 5.

3-pt. goals – Evans 3, Scott 1, Huntington 1, Cooper 1, Schoening 1, Sparavalo 1.

Fouled out – Huntington, Nolen, Ryan.

Technicals – Huntington.

UCI – Barnes 12, Smith-Williams 15, Maessen 18, Ke. Johnson 5, Spinazze 4, Theus 2, Ka. Johnson 3, Maly-Karros 28.

3-pt. goals – Maessen 1, Ka. Johnson 1.

Fouled out – Ke. Johnson.

Halftime – UCI, 37-31.