RIVERSIDE—When the ball tips in Albuquerque Tuesday night it begins a historic 2019-20 season for the UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team. The Highlanders play a trio of road games in the Southwest over a five-day period against the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State, and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

For the first time in the history of the conference, a former Big West championship winning player (06, 07) will command the sidelines for a member school in the form of UC Riverside Interim Head Coach Seyram Bell. 

"We're excited the season is finally here. We've been working hard to improve everyday. This trip is a great opportunity to play against high-level competition." said Bell.  

UCR will get the grand season-opening treatment at each of their three stops, Albuquerque and Las Cruces, New Mexico, and El Paso, TX. The University of New Mexico, New Mexico State, and UTEP's first game of the 2019-20 season will all come against UC Riverside. This unique occurrence marks the first time in recent history that a team will be the season opening opponent of their hosts in three-straight road games. 

"Each game is going to be a battle, we know we'll get each team's full attention, especially with our game being their season openers. We'll take it one game, one possession at a time, and hope to return to Riverside a better team than when we left it." Coach Bell would go on to say.

The Highlanders were picked to finish third in the Big West Conference by both the coaches and the media. Seniors Jannon Otto and Marina Ewodo were named to the Preseason All-Conference Team by the coaches. The squad also welcomes back leading rebounder Daphne Gnago, who was fourth in the Big West in rebounds per game (7.5), and named to the conference's All-Freshman Team last year. 

In all, the blue and gold returns nine letter winners, four of them starters. They'll also welcome four new players to the squad, transfers Ann Jernigan (Old Dominion) and Aiyanna Barnes (Loyola Marymount), along with freshmen Samantha Fries (Esperanza HS/Yorba Linda,CA) and Georgia Ohiaeri (Bishop Gorman HS/Las Vegas, NV).

Otto's team-leading 15.2 points a game ranked fourth in the league, her 82.6 percent connect rate from the free-throw line was second, while her 3.5 assists per contest placed her inside the top-10 (8th).

Ewodo chipped in 11.9 points a game, while providing an all-around play that earned her Big West All-Defensive Team honors and saw her land inside the conference's top-10 in several key categories. She pulled down 7.1 boards a game (6th), shot 49.3 percent from the field (5th), blocked 1.7 shots per contest (2nd), and had the team's best assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.6 (10th).

The University of New Mexico was picked to finish second in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll. The Lobos' backcourt features Aisia Robertson (14.3 ppg/6.6 apg) and Jayla Everett (13.5 ppg/3.7apg), who were both named to the Preseason All-Mountain West Team, while incoming freshman point guard Corina Carter garnered Co-Freshman of the Year preseason honors. Tuesday's game also serves as a reunion for UCR's Jannon Otto, who spent her freshman season with the Lobos, before returning home to Southern California to join the Highlanders.

Thursday's opponent, the New Mexico State Aggies were picked to win their sixth-straight Western Athletic Conference championship by both the media and coaches, while senior guard Gia Pack was tabbed Preseason WAC Player of the Year by the coaches. Pack averaged 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game a season ago as she was named First-Team All-WAC for the second-straight year while also being named WAC Tournament MVP after breaking the tournament record for points with 86.

On the final leg of the trip, the Highlanders will cross the Texas border to face UTEP on Saturday. The Miners were picked to finish 12th out of 14 teams in Conference USA. They return one of their two double-digit scorers from a season ago in Katarina Zec (10.1 ppg), who also connected on a team-best 35.8 percent of her attempts from long distance. The Miners won their first two exhibition games, forcing their opponents into an average of 24 turnovers a game (22, 26). Zec lead them in scoring in both contests, tallying 18 and 23 points respectively.