Seattle, WA—The UC Riverside Women's Basketball team had three players score over 17 points, and connected on nine-of-20 three-point attempts Tuesday against Oregon. Friday they'll face the top-scoring duo in the nation, when they visit the Washington Huskies in a 7pm PT tip-off.
UCR (5-5) is coming off a 95-81 defeat at Oregon, where the Ducks converted their 30 offensive rebounds into 28 second chance points, and had all five starters score in double figures. (
box score/
recap)
In the loss, Brittany Crain scored 21 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Crain is
12th in the nation with 29 three points field goals made, and leads the
Big West in scoring at 18.7 a game.
Rejane Verin also had 21 points, and dished out a career-high tying eight assists. Over her last two games (at Oregon, vs CSUB), Verin is averaging 19.5 points and 7.5 rebounds a game. The two games prior (at SF, vs LMU), she averaged 7.5 points and 5.5 rebounds a game, and fouled out of each of them.
Coach Margaritis on Verin's recent play, "I feel she's starting to relax and focus on basketball, now that finals are over. All players go through rough patches, but I knew she wouldn't stay down too long."
The Highlanders also got contributions from Clemence Lefebrve, who hit a career-best five three pointers on the way to 17 points, and Jazzmeen Williams, who chipped in with eight points and six boards.
UCR currently ranks 8th in the nation in three point field goal percentage at 40.0, and 10th in assists per game with 19.5. Friday night's game will also be a homecoming for UCR Assistant Coach
Giuliana Mendiola, who played at Washington (#13 pictured above) from 2001-04, and holds the record for most points (43) and assists (13) in a game. It will be the first time the Washington Hall of Famer returns in a coaching capacity.
"Giuliana is obvisouly a very accomplished player, but she's an even better person. She's doing a great job as a coach for us. It's helpful for the girls to have a mentor that has succeeded on their level, and can also give advice about playing at the next one". said Coach Margaritis.
This is the fourth of five contests against Pac 12 schools for UCR, with the fifth taking place Monday, December 28 at home against UCLA. (
San Bernardino Strong Night)
Washington (7-2) features the highest scoring duo in the country in Kelsey Plum and Talia Walton, who average a combined 47.4 points per game.
Plum leads the nation in scoring at 28.0 per game, and Walton ranks 32nd with 19.4 per game. Chantel Osahor helps the Huskies control the glass, as she averages just short of a double-double at 9.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
"They're a good team that plays hard, and is well coached. Coach Neighbors always has them prepared—this will be a great challenge for us."
In their last game at South Dakota, the Huskies outscored the Coyotes, 49-31, in the second half to claim a 77-64 victory. Walton had 29 points and 11 rebounds, including six-of-nine from three-point land, and Plum added 25 points on 10-24 shooting, with seven rebounds. Plum shot one for seven from long distance.
UCR is 1-1 all-time versus Washington. They won the first meeting between the programs—back in 2010, 59-54, in Seattle (
box score/
recap). In last year's match-up at home, they fell 74-71, when Plum hit a game-winning three with just 10 seconds remaining (
box score/
recap).
