Riverside–The UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team looks to build on its two-game winning streak, and take sole possession of second place in the conference Thursday night, when they take on Long Beach State at 7 pm PT inside the SRC Arena.
Head Coach John Margaritis now sits at 199 wins at UCR and is only one win away from his 200th victory. Margaritis will be the fourth coach in Big West history to reach 200 wins in Women's Basketball.
In the Highlanders' last game, they defeated Cal State Fullerton 75-63 at Titan Gym. Junior guard Lauren Holt led the way with 20 points and 10 rebounds in recording her first career double-double. Michelle Curry added 18 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Holt has scored 17 points or more in four out of the last five contests–UCR is 4-1 in those games. In five of the last six games, she has connected from long distance two or more times, and is shooting 18-35 (51.4%) beyond the arc over that span.
Curry had a slow first half, only scoring two points; both of them from the charity stripe. She then exploded for 16 points in the second half (11 in the third period). The Los Angeles native has been on a scoring tear as of late pouring in 99 points in her last 133 minutes of play–an average of 19.8 a game.
Simone DeCoud dropped her 17 points in the first half, and dished out four assists in the game. She is now second on the all-time assists list with 376, 29 behind Cassandra Reeves' 405 career total.
Long Beach comes in fresh off a, 59-48, win against UCSB. Raven Benton had a season-high 23 points off the bench. Senior Jewelyn Sawyer led the team effort on the glass with six rebounds. Fellow senior Anna Kim aided in the 49ers' victory with 11 points and 6 assists.
In conference play, LBSU has four players averaging between 9.7 and 11.3 points a game. Kim averages the team-leading 11.3, while Benton follows closely with 11.1 and Jewelyn Sawyer adds 9.8 per contest.
The first match-up between the clubs this year was a defensive battle as both squads produced their lowest scoring output during 2017 league play. The Highlanders forced a season-high 25 turnover at the Pyramid, but shot .352 from the filed, 1-16 from three as the team's rally in the second half came up short as they fell, 55-51, to Long Beach State.
