Fullerton, CA—At 9-5, the UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team is off to its best start through 14 games since the 1994-95 campaign when the Highlanders began the year with an 11-3 record. Big West Conference play begins this week with UCR traveling to Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, January 8 at 7 pm PT, and hosting UC Irvine Saturday, January 10 at 5 pm.
The Highlanders were without their second and third leading scorers in their most recent win—an 83-38 decision over visiting UMKC (
box score/
recap). Simone DeCoud (12.0 ppg) and Annelise Ito (11.8) were forced to miss the game due to illness and injury respectively.
The rest of the squad stepped up to fill their shoes, though, particularly Michelle Curry who just missed out on a triple double with 14 points, 10 assist and nine rebounds.
Brittany Crain scored 25 points and still leads the Big West with a 23.1 points per game scoring average. That figure is also the seventh best in the nation.
Cal State Fullerton is 6-7 on the season with wins in three of their last four games. The Titans boast the second leading scorer in the conference, and the reigning Big West Player of the Week, in Chante Miles who averages 19.5 points per game thanks in part to making 38.4 percent of her shots from beyond the arc. That is nearly one third of the team's total scoring out put of 62.1 points per game. Miles also connect
Kathleen Iwuoha also averages in double figures at 11.1 points per game, and is fourth in the conference with a .514 field goal percentage.
The highlanders are 23-20 all-time against the Titans (
view results), but Cal State Fullerton won the last two meetings between the clubs and four of the last five.
