Riverside—
With a win over Hawai'i tonight the UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team will clinch the Big West regular season title. It would be the first regular season title since the 2006-07 season, when the team also won the conference tournament and played in the NCAA torunament.In their last game on Wednesday night at CSUN, senior Brittany Crain became UCR's all-time leading scorer with 21 points in an, 84-62 victory.
The Highlanders came into the game leading the conference in scoring, but tough defense was the story as they forced the Matadors into 26 turnovers. A 24-10 third quarter broke the game wide open and allowed the Highlanders to rest Crain for most of the fourth period.
Rejane Verin had a career-high seven steals to pace the UCR defense to go along with her 20 points, four assists, and four rebounds. Michelle Curry had 16 points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals, while Simone DeCoud added 14 points and seven assists.
Hawai'i (17-9, 10-3) has won seventh straight games. They defeated Cal State Fullerton, 70-50, on Thursday night.
Entering the week, the Rainbow Wahine lead the league in every single rebounding category and currently hold a +9.7 rebounding margin overall. In conference, they lead the league in scoring defense (55.8 pts/gm) and 3-point field goal defense (.288). Destiny King leads Hawai'i averaging 10.4 points per game and is second on the team with 6.2 rebounds per game.In their first meeting this season, UC Riverside got 31 points from Brittany Crain that led four players in double figures in a, 77-74, win that snapped a seven game losing streak to Hawai'i.
They went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line in fourth period, and shot 90 percent (18-20) for the game. The Highlanders would hold off the attempt of late heroics by Hawai'i, and claim the 77-74 victory.
UCR is 1-7 all-time versus Hawai'i. (view results)
