LAS CRUCES, N.M. (Interstat) — The UC Irvine women’s basketball team used a dominant second-quarter surge to seize control and never looked back, defeating New Mexico State 83-66 in a nonconference game Tuesday night at the Pan American Center.

The Anteaters, improving to 10-2, outscored the Aggies 24-14 in the pivotal second period to turn a narrow one-point lead after the first quarter into a 41-32 halftime advantage. UC Irvine maintained a double-digit cushion for nearly the entire second half, methodically extending its lead to as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter before settling for the 17-point victory.

Ameerah Grant, a 5-foot-4 guard from Brown Deer, Wisconsin, led all scorers with 19 points off the bench for UC Irvine. She was instrumental in the second-quarter run and finished a perfect 7 for 7 from the free-throw line. Forward Jada Wynn of Yorba Linda, California, added 17 points and a block in 26 minutes, while guard Lauryn Madsen from Warden, Washington, contributed 15 points.

New Mexico State, which fell to 3-7, was led by Lucia Yenes of Madrid, Spain, who scored 22 points and dished out three assists. Imani Warren of Milwaukee added 14 points, three assists and a block for the Aggies, who struggled to find consistent offense outside of their top performers.

The game’s most critical sequence unfolded late in the second quarter with UC Irvine holding a slim 28-26 lead. Over the final 3:46 of the half, the Anteaters closed on a 13-6 run, fueled by defensive pressure that forced four New Mexico State turnovers. The spurt included a 3-pointer from Shirel Nahum, a driving layup and a free throw from Grant, and a step-back 3-pointer from Hunter Hernandez at the buzzer. That flurry transformed a tense two-point game into a comfortable nine-point halftime lead, a margin from which the Aggies could not recover.

UC Irvine’s defense was a constant disruptor, generating 18 steals and converting 23 New Mexico State turnovers into 27 points. The Anteaters also shared the ball effectively, tallying 18 assists on 29 made field goals. Hernandez, a guard from San Jose, California, facilitated much of the offense, finishing with 13 points and a game-high five assists.

For New Mexico State, Anna Csenyi of Szolnok, Hungary, scored 12 points, but the Aggies shot just 38% from the field as a team and were hampered by the turnover issues. The home team also sent UC Irvine to the free-throw line 30 times, where the Anteaters converted 22 attempts.

The announced attendance was 344 at the Pan American Center.

UC Irvine, which has won four straight games and seven of its last eight, will travel to face UTEP on Thursday. New Mexico State, which has lost four of its last six, will head to California to play Saint Mary’s on Saturday.

According to Interstat’s ELO system, UC Irvine entered the game with a 74.5% probability of winning.