Carlos Puma

Women's Basketball

Women's Basketball Plays At Long Beach State On ESPN3 Before Heading To Hawai'i

Highlanders In Week Ten
at Long Beach State
Wednesday, January 13, 7:00 pm PT
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at Hawai'i
Saturday, January 16, 9:00 pm PT
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Riverside, CA—The UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team faces Long Beach State on ESPN3 Wednesday, January 13 at 7 pm PT.

UCR registered a pair of historic victories to open Big West conference competition. Thursday's, 93-69, home win over UC Irvine was the first conference opening home win since the 2008-09 season.
 
Saturday at UC Santa Barbara, with just eight players available, UCR won, 83-53, its largest margin of victory (30) in a Big West road win in 10 years. (box score/recap)

The 2-0 start in conference is the fifth in the Division I history of the program.

As a team, UCR's ranks 6th in the nation in assists per game with 19.6, and is just inside the top-10 with a assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.32—good enough for 9th.

After two games played, the Highlanders lead the Big West in points per game (75.4), field goal percentage (44.8), assists per game, free-throw percentage (72.7), and three-point field goal percentage (36.0), all while committing the fewest turnovers of any team in the conference (14.8/gm).

Brittany Crain is averaging 30.5 points, 5.0 rebounds a game and shooting 56 percent from the field against Big West foes. She ranks 36th nationally at 19.1 points a game, is 33rd with 40 made three pointers, and leads the Big West in scoring.

Annelise Ito is averaging a double double with a 17.5 points and 11 rebounds a game in conference play. Rejane Verin is contributing strong all-around play, averaging 13.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game.
 
Long Beach State (12-4, 1-1), who was picked to finish fifth in the Big West, won, 81-62, on Saturday at Cal State Fullerton.

In the win, the 49ers set a new Big West record with 20 made three-pointers. Nine different players connected from long distance, as they outshot the Titans, who made 13 threes of their own.
 
Raven Benton scored a team-high 17 points, and drained a career-high five triples. Chanterria Jackson made 3-of-4 attempts from long distance on her way to 11 points, and Jewelyn Sawyer contributed 10 points in the victory.

The Highlanders lead the overall series 18-16 (view results). The teams split last season's series, with both clubs prevailing at home. UCR won the first match-up 80-74 (box score/recap), and the Beach prevailed, 76-66, on February 7, 2015 (box score/recap). 

Hawai'i (8-7,1-1) is coming off a, 60-58, loss at UC Davis. The Rainbow Warriors led by seven points heading into the fourth quarter, but were outscored, 19-10, in the final frame. 

Ashleigh Karaitiana scored 15 points to go with four rebounds, while Olivia Crawford contributed 12 points and also had four rebounds.

Hawai'i was picked to win the Big West in the preseason media poll. They host CSUN Thursday night, before welcoming the Highlanders Saturday at 9 pm PT.

UCR is 0-7 all-time against Hawai'i and have lost the last three meetings in Honolulu by ten points or more. (view results)