Women's Basketball Looks to Continue Winning Streak vs. UC Davis and Cal Poly

RIVERSIDE, Calif.—The UC Riverside Women's Basketball team heads into one of its most challenging weeks of Big West competition when it travels to play UC Davis on Thursday and then faces Cal Poly at home on Saturday.

UCR comes into the week riding a four-game winning streak. It's previous win came in a tight 62-59 victory over Cal State Fullerton last Thursday. The Highlanders (11-11, 5-3) were led by Jannon Otto, who had 22 points.

"The team always talks about how every game is important," head coach John Margaritis said after the win. "If we are going to separate ourselves, we have to keep winning. We can only worry about ourselves."

The Highlanders took a 67-59 loss to the Aggies (17-6, 9-1) at home in their first conference game of the season on Jan. 5. UC Davis comes into the game currently on an eight-game winning streak. UCR will play Cal Poly for the first time this season.

SCOUTING THE AGGIES
UC Davis' last loss came at Hawaii on Jan. 12. The Aggies are fresh off an 85-61 win over Cal Poly. Morgan Bertsch is the catalyst for the team's success. She won her fifth Big West Player of the Week honor earlier this week.

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Cal Poly has struggled so far this season, coming into the week 5-15 and 2-7 in conference. The team is led by Hana Vesela and Devin Stanback, who both average double digits in scoring.

OTTO-MATIC
Jannon Otto is averaging 19.6 points per game in conference, which is second in the Big West. Only Morgan Bertsch averages more (24.2). Otto is also first in conference in field goal percentage (.545) and seventh in rebounding (6.4).

BLOCK PARTY
The Highlanders are second in the Big West in blocked shots with 106, averaging 4.9 per game. Marina Ewodo has 40 of those and is averaging 1.8 blocks per game, which is second in the Big West. Through 22 games, the team has out-blocked opponents 106-39.

KNOCKING 'EM DOWN
The Highlanders lead the Big West in free throw percentage (.817). Malou De Kergret leads the conference in free throw percentage at .952 percent (20-for-21).

REBOUNDING RATE
The Highlanders have three student-athletes in the Top 10 in defensive rebounds/game: Daphne Gnago is second with 5.6, Jannon Otto is fifth with 4.9 and Marina Ewodo is eighth with 4.6.

TRUSTED THREE
The Highlanders currently have three student-athletes averaging double digits in points: Jannon Otto with 15.0 ppg, Marina Ewodo with 11.2 ppg and Malou De Kergret with 10.6 ppg.