Riverside—The UC Riverside Women's Basketball team puts its unblemished conference record (4-0) on the line Saturday, January 23, when the Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara come to town. The lone game of the week for the Highlanders is slated for a 7 pm PT tip.
The 4-0 start to conference play matches the mark set by 2007-08 team, a 5-0 start would put them in territory not seen since joining the Big West.
In their last game, UCR snapped an 0-7 all-time losing streak against Hawai'i with a, 77-74, road victory. (box score/recap)
Brittany Crain led all scorers with 31 points—her 11th career 30 plus point game. Her 19.2 points a game lead the Big West and rank 33rd in the nation.
Rejane Verin, reigning Big West Player of the Week, nearly missed out on a double double, tallying 11 points and nine rebounds to go with four assists. Michelle Curry had 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists, including a critical score down the stretch that helped seal the victory.
Annelise Ito contributed 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.
As a team, UC Riverside ranks 8th nationally with a 1.35 assist-to-turonver ratio, despite registering the third lowest assist total on the season in their last game—14 against Hawai'i.
In the Big West, the Highlanders are leading the pack in points per game (82.4), assist per game (22.3), and committing the fewest turnovers per game (10.8).
Saturday's matchup against the Gauchos is second of the season. In the first meeting in Santa Barbara, the Highlanders won, 83-53. The 30 point margin of victory was highest in a road win the 2006-07 season.
UC Santa Barbara (6-12, 3-1) is also coming off a pair of road victories last week, they were victorious over Cal State Fullerton and CSUN.
In their last game, at CSUN, they had four players score in double figures, led by Jasmine Ware, who poured in a game-high 17 points off the bench. Coco Miller scored 12, Je Zhe Newton 11, and Makayla Roper 10 to round out the four Gauchos in double digits.
UC Santa Barbara hosts UC Davis, who is tied with the Highlanders for first place, on Thursday night, before heading to Riverside. With a 3-1 record through the first two weekends in conference, the Gauchos are off to their best start in Big West play since 2011.
