Riverside, CA—The UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team takes on UC Irvine on ESPN3 Thursday, January 7 at 5 pm PT in the Big West conference opener at the SRC Arena.
UCR improved its record to 7-7 Saturday with an, 85-67, win over Grand Canyon University
(box score/
recap).
Rejane Verin and Brittany Crain each recorded 20-point, 10-rebound double doubles in the win.
It was the second time in Division I program history that two players accomplished such a feat in the same game. The first was on
November 15, 2013, when Natasha Hadley had 21 points, 11 rebounds, and current Highlander senior Annelise Ito, tallied 22 points and 15 boards in a 105-74 win at San Jose State.
Verin leads the Big West in scoring at 17.9 a game, is second in field goal percentage at 49.5 and fourth in rebounding at 7.9 per contest.
Crain leads the conference with 34 made threes, is second in scoring at 17.6 a game, and ranks ninth in rebounding, pulling down 6.1 a game.
Ito is second the Big West in assist per game (4.9), and fifth in both scoring (12.8) and rebounding (7.1).
As a team, UCR's ranks
12th in the nation in assists per game with 18.6, and is just inside the top-50 in three-point field goal percentage—
49th at 35.1.
The Highlanders lead the Big West in points per game (73.6), field goal percentage (43.6), assists per game, free-throw percentage (72.7), and three-point field goal percentage, all while committing the fewest turnovers of any team in the conference (15.4/gm).
UC Irvine (3-11) fell Sunday at CSU Bakersfield, 65-39. In the loss, the Anteaters shot just 26.7 percent from the field, and one for 14 from three-point land.
They were without two of their leading scorers—Mokun Fajemisin (9.0 ppg) and Shereen Sutherland (8.2 ppg). Raelyn Cheung-Sutton led the team with 10 points, and Irene Chavez chipped in with eight points.
The Eaters have lost six in a row and share four common opponents with the Highlanders—LMU (L, 95-50), Grand Canyon (L, 58-53), UCLA (L, 83-48), and CSU Bakersfield.
UC Riverside went 3-1 versus those opponents, with the lone loss coming against #19 UCLA.
The Highlanders lead the overall series 32-17 (
view results). The teams split last season's series, with UCR winning the first match-up 71-58 (
box score/
recap), and UC Irvine prevailing in overtime 76-72 in the most recent match-up on February 14, 2015 (
box score/
recap).
UC Santa Barbara (3-11) is coming off a, 93-78, victory over Morehead State. Makala Roper's 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists led them.
Chaya Durr scored 18 points to go with eight rebounds, while Jasmine Ware contributed 17 points off the bench in just 16 minutes of action.
The Gauchos have won two in a row, and also open Big West play at home, Thursday against Cal Poly.
UCR is 21-25 overall against UC Santa Barbara and have won the last three meetings. (
view results)
