Women's Basketball Ready for WBI Matchup vs. Utah State

RIVERSIDE, Calif.—The UC Riverside Women's Basketball team's season continues on Wednesday when it hosts the first round of the Women's Basketball Invitational at 7 p.m. vs. Utah State.

The Highlanders finished the regular season with a 16-14 record, going 10-6 during Big West play to finish tied for second.

As the No. 3 seed in the Big West Tournament, the Highlanders beat Long Beach State, 67-50, in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday, before taking a 66-58 loss to Hawaii on Friday. Malou De Kergret and Marina Ewodo scored in double digits in both games.

Utah State (16-15, 10-8) finished sixth in the Mountain West Conference and lost to No. 3 seed Wyoming, 64-41, in a quarterfinal matchup last Tuesday.

The teams last played each other on Nov. 15, 2012 in Riverside with UCR picking up a 94-90 win. While Utah State is a member of the Mountain West, the university was apart of the Big West from 1978-2005.

The WBI is a 16-team event that takes place over two weeks with all games being played on campus sites. Yale won last year's tournament.

To purchase tickets to the game, click here.

UTAH STATE OF MIND
This marks the fifth time this season that UCR has played a team from Utah. Of the 14 non-conference games the Highlanders played, four included teams from Utah. The team played BYU on Nov. 9 in Provo. It also played Weber State on Dec. 20, Utah Valley on Dec. 22 in Utah and then Southern Utah at home on Nov. 15.

R'HOUSE
The Highlanders have won .738 of their home games since the start of the 2014-15 season, going 48-17 at the SRC Arena.

BLOCK PARTY
UCR has 152 blocked shots on the season, with an average of 4.8 per game. Marina Ewodo has 55 of those and is averaging 1.7 blocks per game. The team has out-blocked opponents 152-58.

OFF THE GLASS
Daphne Gnago finished second in the Big West in rebounds per game, averaging 8.1. Marina Ewodo was fourth with 7.3 rpg, while Jannon Otto was seventh with 6.6.

STEALS GALORE
The Highlanders finished the regular season second in the Big West in steals. The team had 153 in 16 games (9.6 per game). Keilanei Cooper finished second in the Big West in steals/game with 2.0. Daphne Gnago finished fifth with 1.8.