SEASIDE, Calif. -- The Cal State Monterey Bay women's basketball team will face its toughest tests to date as it looks to continues its perfect start to the 2013-14 season by hosting Cal State L.A. (Friday) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (Saturday) in The Kelp Bed. Tip-off both nights is 5:30 p.m. as the openers of men's/women's doubleheader action.

Head Coach Kerri Nakamoto (@CoachKNakamoto) has CSUMB (3-0 overall) in position to start 4-0 for just the second time in school history. The Otters haven't opened 4-0 since the 2010-11 team opened the season with a school-record 16 consecutive wins.

The Otters also opened 3-0 in 2009-10 and 2012-13 but could grab the elusive fourth win either season.

Fans who can't make the game can follow all of the action with live video, audio and stats at www.OtterAthletics.com. Kevin Richardon returns for his third season as the voice of CSUMB women's basketballl to call the play-by-play from The Kelp Bed.

SCOUTING GOLDEN EAGLES (3–1, 1–0 CCAA): The Golden Eagles opened the season with three consecutive home wins before being surprised at home by Point Loma Nazarene, 74–69, Saturday in The Eagles Nest. L.A. opened the season with a double–overtime win against travel partner Cal State Dominguez Hills to account for its early CCAA win. Australian forward Paige Melville leads three Golden Eagles scoring in double figures at 17.8 ppg. Texas–El Paso transfer Destinee La Fountain adds a season double–double with 13.0 ppg and 11.8 rpg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: The Otters avenged a triple–overtime loss in Los Angeles and earned a season series split with a 64–52 win in The Kelp Bed on Feb. 8, 2013. Cal State L.A. scored on its opening possession to give the Golden Eagles the only lead they would possess all night. Brittani Jefferson led CSUMB with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Kaija Powell scored 13 points for CSULA.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters completed a sweep of their two–game set in Belmont by defeating Notre Dame de Namur 53–38 on Nov. 17. The Otters opened lead of 7–0 and 13–1 to start the game and the Argonauts never threatened those leads. Head Coach Kerri Nakamoto (@CoachKNakamoto) got to play her entire roster after building leads as big as 25 points in the second half. Senior guard Chezla Self (Sacramento/S.J. Delta College) came off the bench to lead a balanced scoring effort with 12 points.

DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE: While offense took center stage in CSUMB's season–opening win over Dixie State, defense ruled the day in the win over Southwest Minnesota State and NDNU. The Otters allowed just 83 combined points, its fourth–lowest two–game total in school history. Here's how it ranks on the all–time lists:

1. 61 points: Jan. 29, 2010 vs. Cal St. San Bernardino (40); Feb. 3 at Cal St. East Bay (21)
2. 78 points: Jan. 7, 2010 vs. Cal State L.A. (41); Jan. 9 vs. Cal St. Dominguez Hills (33)
3. 82 points: Dec. 4, 2010 vs. Cal St. East Bay (38); Dec. 18 vs. Dominican Univ. (44)
4. 83 points: Nov. 16, 2013 vs. SW Minn. St. (45); Nov. 17 vs. Notre Dame de Namur (38)
5. 88 points: Jan. 25, 2013 at Chico State (44); Jan. 26 at Cal St. Stanislaus (44)

98 FOR THE RECORD BOOKS: The Otters set several school records in the season–opening win over Dixie State, most notably by scoring 98 points to eclipse the previous record of 95 set in a 2OT win over the University of Mary on Nov. 15, 2008.

BOMBS AWAY: A big part of the 98–point effort (39 points, to be exact), came from a record–breaking 13 3–point field goals (the previous high was 12 at San Francisco State on Jan. 23, 2008). Victoria Dorn (Marina/Seaside HS), Holly Holcomb (Ventura/Buena HS) and Ashley Morgan (Rohnert Park/Santa Rosa JC) led the way with three treys apiece.

HOT AND COLD: Last season, nearly two–thirds of CSUMB's 146 three–point field goals came in 11 hot–shooting games when the Otters went a combined 91–for–217 from beyond the arc (41.9 pct.). In CSUMB's other 18 games last season, it shot just 55–for–291 (18.9 pct.) from long range.

SIX IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: Six seemed to be the magic number for three–point field goals. CSUMB is 26–4 (a winning percentage of 86.7) in its last 30 contests when it made at least six three–pointers. Since 2008, CSUMB is 61–14 (81.3 pct.) when making at least six treys in a game.

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: The win over Dixie State was a team effort. So much so, in fact that, for the first time in CSUMB history, seven Otters scored in double figures in the same game. The magnificent seven were: Nikki Beckman 18; Holly Holcomb and Ashley Morgan 14; Victoria Dorn 13; Jenna Bandy (Thousand Oaks HS) 12; Chezla Self (Sacramento/Delta College) 11; and Alexous Robinson (Dublin/Ohlone College) 10. 

20–20 VISION: The March 16 NCAA Tournament win over Chico State secured CSUMB's third consecutive 20–plus win season. CSUMB won 27 games in 2011 (27–4) and 21 games in 2012 (21–9). During the Renee Jimenez era of CSUMB basketball (2008–13) the Otters have averaged 19 wins per season. Prior to Jimenez, the Otters had never won as many as 10 games in a season.

PICK UP THE PACE: While defense historically has been CSUMB's bread and butter, the Otters registered more than 70 points in three consecutive regular season games, concluding with the season opener vs. Dixie State. The last time the Otters broke 70 in three consecutive regular season games came Dec. 10–19, 2011 in wins over Simpson University (86–55), Cal State L.A. (71–60) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (71–51). The Otters have never scored 70 or more points in four consecutive games.

70 IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING: With apologies to Douglas Adams, the answer to everything isn't 42, it's 70. The Otter saw their streak of 28 consecutive wins when scoring at least 70 points snapped Mar. 1 in overtime vs. Chico State. In fact, CSUMB is 31–2 all–time when scoring 70 or more points since the 2008–09 season. Prior to the 2013 regular season finale, the Otters hadn't scored 70 in defeat since a 85–79 loss to Cal State Stanislaus on Dec. 6, 2008.

WHY PLAY 40 MINUTES? Second halves have become all but irrelevant when the Otters lead at intermission. CSUMB has won 72 of its last 76 regular season games in which it has led at halftime. Since 2008–09, the Otters have a 78–5 regular season record when leading at intermission. Included in that run was a 52–game winning streak broken when Humboldt State overcame a 32–31 on deficit Feb. 4, 2012 to win 65–51.

BACK–TO–BACK DOUBLE–DOUBLES: Then junior forward Ashley Morgan (Rohnert Park/Santa Rosa CC) and Brittani Jefferson each posted double–doubles the weekend of Jan. 4–5, 2013 with Morgan going for 10 points and 10 rebounds at Dominguez Hills and Jefferson getting 10 and 13 at CSULA. It marks just the third time in four seasons two different Otters have posted consecutive double–doubles. The last two to do it were Jefferson (14 & 10 at SFSU on Jan. 5, 2012) and Shonetta Crain–Williams (14 & 12 at Cal Poly Pomona on Jan. 7, 2012).

In case you're wondering, the last time two Otters posted double–doubles in the same game came on Feb. 18, 2011 when Holly Holcomb had 10 & 10 and Julie Heurung had 20 & 10 in a 62–45 win over Sonoma State on Feb. 18, 2011.

GO OTTERS!