Riverside— The UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team travels to UC Santa Barbara Thursday, Feb. 14 in its first of two road games this week. The Highlanders rank sixth in the conference but remain in a tight race for a top ranking with only one-and-a-half games separating second place from sixth. Tip is slated for 7 pm PT.
UC Riverside returns to the court after falling to UC Irvine in an overtime battle, 76-72. Annelise Ito led the Highlanders with a season-high 22 points and 12 rebounds, making good on 9-of-16 attempts from the floor. She now ranks seventh among the top-scorers in the conference and recorded her third double-double of the season.
Brittany Crain's 19-point performance extended her program Division I era record of consecutive double-digit scoring efforts to 34 straight games. Crain leads the Big West with a 23.5 points per game scoring average which is also the fourth highest average in the nation as of February 12.
After missing almost the whole month of January, Simone DeCoud has averaged 10.5 points per game since her return, putting up 11 on the Anteaters.
Freshman Michelle Curry notched 12 points against UC Irvine for her seventh-straight game of double-digit scoring. Curry also handed out a game-high 7 assists.
At 15-10 overall, UC Riverside is off to its best start since the 1994-95 season when the Highlanders won 17 of their first 25 games.
UC Santa Barbara heads into Saturday still looking for its first win of the conference season. The Gauchos are coming off of a 60-21 loss to Cal State Northridge on Saturday. It is the fewest points scored by UC Santa Barbara in over 15 years.
UCSB's leading scorer is sophomore Onome Jemerigbe, who averages 8.4 points per game. Guard Jasmine Ware is the only other Gaucho averaging above seven points with 8.1.
The Highlanders trail in the overall series against UC Santa Barbara, 20-25, with UC Riverside winning the most recent meeting, 89-74 Jan. 22 earlier this year.
