Anteater debut is a splash

After sparkling in her first two games for the UC Irvine women’s basketball team, sophomore Mikah Maly-Karros has been named Big West Conference Player of the Week.

Maly-Karros, who just became eligible after transferring last season from Loyola Marymount, posted a career-best 28 points and 11 rebounds in the Anteaters’ 87-73 win over Eastern Washington Saturday.

She made 16 of 23 free-throw attempts in that contest, helping UCI set a school and Big West Conference record for most free throws made (45) and attempted (55) in a game. Her performance from the free-throw line was also a school and Bren Events Center record for an individual.

Maly-Karros, a 6-foot-1 forward, had 10 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds in 20 minutes of play in a nonconference loss at Oregon State on Dec. 15. She shot 66.7% from the floor in Corvallis.

For the week, Maly-Karros averaged 19 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting 55.6% from the field.

Maly-Karros is the first Anteater to be named conference player of the week since Kirian Ishizaki earned the honor Dec. 17, 2007.

— From staff reports

Bibona, Pettis recognized

UC Irvine senior pitchers Danny Bibona and Eric Pettis have been named preseason All-Americans by Collegiate Baseball.

Bibona earned a spot on the first team while Pettis was a third-team selection.

Bibona was 12-1 with a 2.63 earned-run average in 2009, when he was named Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year.

He struck out 108 in 106 innings and walked only 26. He helped the Anteaters win their first conference title and he was named to four All-American teams as a junior.

Pettis, tied the school single-season record for saves with 17 for a second straight season in 2009.

The right-hander was 5-2 with a 3.86 ERA in a team-high 29 appearances. Pettis struck out 37 in 42 innings while waking just seven batters. He earned first-team All-Big West honors and collected four All-American awards last season.

— From staff reports

Anteaters ranked No. 8

The UC Irvine baseball team is ranked No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll announced Monday.

UCI, coming off a 45-15 season in which it finished the regular season as the nation’s consensus No. 1 team, received 482 points in the poll, one shy of No. 7 Florida State.

Texas tops the poll with 496 points, followed in order by reigning national champion LSU (494), Virginia (493), Cal State Fullerton (492), Arizona State (491) and Georgia Tech (486).

UCI, which was 22-2 in the Big West Conference last season to earn the program’s first conference title, returns 12 of its top 14 hitters and five of its top six pitchers, including weekend starters Danny Bibona, Christian Bergman and Crosby Slaught, who were a combined 28-4.

Bibona, the Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year, earned All-American recognition, as did Eric Pettis, who had 17 saves last season as a junior.

Bibona and Pettis are joined by All-Big West returners Francis Larson (first team), Bergman (second team) and Ronnie Shaeffer (second team).

Coach Mike Gillespie’s Anteaters open the season Feb. 19 at home against Loyola Marymount.

— From staff reports