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2013WBB Notebook Graphic - Beckman/NCAA
Vernon McKnight

Otters Prep For Rubber Match With Chico State

| By: By Kevin Gilmore
The Otters will face familiar foe Chico State when they open their third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament against the Wildcats Saturday in Bellingham, Wash.

CSUMB, Wildcats split regular season meetings






SEASIDE, Calif. -- It's March, and that means it's time for the Cal State Monterey Bay women's basketball team to put on its dancing shoes once again as it prepares for its third consecutive trip to the NCAA's big dance. As the No. 5 seed in the NCAA West Regional Tournament, the Otters will make a long trip to face a fellow CCAA member when they take on No. 4 seed Chico State Saturday, March 16 at Western Washington University in Bellingham.

Should the Otters advance, they will meet the winner of Saturday's late game between host Western Washington and Academy of Art Monday, March 18 at 5 p.m. The regional championship game is slated for Tuesday, March 19 at 5 p.m.

This will be the first time the Otters and Wildcats have met in the NCAA Tournament. In their only previous postseason meeting, the Otters defeated Chico 71-65 in the 2012 CCAA Championship semifinals.

Each tournament game will be video streamed live at www.WWUVikings.com. Fans may listen to Saturday's game live www.ChicoWildcats.com with Mike Baca calling the play-by-play.

Should CSUMB advance past the first round, semifinal and championship game action will be carried live on OtterAthletics.com with Mitch McClellan calling the play-by-play.




SCOUTING THE WILDCATS (23–5): Like the Otters, Chico State enters the West Regional after falling in the CCAA Tournament semifinals. This will be the Wildcats' second consecutive trip to the regionals and third in four seasons. Junior forward Jazmine Miller leads three Wildcats averaging in double figures at 12.7 points per game. Monni Davidson–Mays adds 10.3 points per game and shares team–high rebounding honors with Analise Riezebos at 6.0 rpg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: Some teams don't score 20 points on the stingy Otter defense in a half; a red–hit Chico State offense did it in five minutes of overtime to upend CSUMB 84–75 in both teams' regular season finale on Mar. 1 in The Kelp Bed. The Otter led by six points late when Chico caught fire, rallying to force overtime then scoring the first five points of the extra period to take control. Stefanie Corgel (Manhattan Beach/UCSB) and Holly Holcomb (Ventura/Buena HS) led a balanced Otter attack with 14 points apiece. Hannah Womack came off the bench to lead Chico with 23 points.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters got off to a glacially cold start — turning the ball over on their first four possessions and missing their first eight three–point attempts — allowing UC San Diego to build a 15–point first half lead en route to a 67–51 win in the CCAA Championship semifinals Saturday in Ontario. Gabby Munsch (Lodi/CSU San Marcos) came off the bench to lead the Otters with 15 points while Angelique Bailey (Fontana/Etiwanda HS) added a game–high four assists.

20–20 VISION: The Otters enter Saturday's game vs. Chico State looking to secure their 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 (2008–09 to the present) the Otters have averaged 19 wins per season. Prior to Jimenez, the Otters had never won as many as 10 games in a season.


OTTERS vs. THE NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD: The Otters own a 3–3 mark against teams in the NCAA West Region field. Here's a look at how they did:
  • Dec. 5: hW 79–63 vs. Academy of Art
  • Jan. 18: hW 57–48 vs. UC San Diego
  • Jan. 25: aW 51–44 at Chico State
  • Feb. 23: aL 44–56 at UC San Diego
  • Mar. 1: hL 75–84 (ot) vs. Chico State
  • Mar. 8: nL 51–67 vs. UC San Diego


OTTERS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: This marks CSUMB's third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Otters own an all–time record of 1–2 in tournament action, going 1–1 in 2011 and 0–1 in 2012.

A PERFECT 10…POINTS PER GAME: Thanks in part to scoring a career–high 23 points in last week's win over Cal Poly Pomona, Brittani Jefferson raised her season scoring average to 11.2 points per game. She is looking to become the first Otter since Veronica Williams to average double figures in scoring for a season. Williams averaged 12.1 ppg in 2010.

HOT AND COLD: Two–thirds of CSUMB's 137 three–point field goals this season have come 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 16 games this season, it has shot just 46–for–258 (17.8 pct.) from long range.

SIX IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: Six seems to be the magic number for three–point field goals in the Renee Jimenez era of Otter basketball. Friday night's overtime loss to Chico State snapped the Otters 13–game winning streak when draining at least six long balls. Even more impressive, CSUMB is 25–4 (a winning percentage of 86.2) in its last 29 contests when it made at least six three–pointers. All–time under Jimenez, CSUMB is 60–14 (81.1 pct.) when making at least six treys in a game.

THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS: The Otter defense continues to be as consistent as — for lack of a better comparison — the Otter defense. Entering Saturday's game vs. Chico State, the Otters have held 11 opponents (of 27 this season) under 50 points. Including UC San Diego last week, only four opponents have reached the 60–point plateau in regulation against CSUMB.

PICK UP THE PACE: While CSUMB's bread and butter remains its defense, the Otters registered more than 70 points in three consecutive games last week for the first time this season. The last time the Otters broke 70 in three consecutive 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 score 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 30–2 all–time when scoring 70 or more points under Renee Jimenez. Prior to last week, 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 under Renee Jimenez. CSUMB has won 69 of its last 73 regular season games in which it has led at halftime. In fact, under Jimenez, the Otters have a 75–5 all–time regular season record when leading at intermission. Humboldt State broke the Otters' 52–game win streak in such situations by overcoming a 32–31 on deficit Feb. 4, 2012 to win 65–51. CSUMB was 18–1 when leading at halftime last season.

ON THE REBOUND: The Otters enter Saturday's game averaging 40.7 rebounds per game. That mark would be a school record for rebounding average in a season, eclipsing the 38.4 rebounds per game pulled down by the 2006–07 Otters. In terms of total rebounds, CSUMB enters the week with 1,060 boards, good for No. 3 on that list. The school record for total rebounds is 1,173 set over 31 games by the 2010–11 Otters.

A THIEF IN THE NIGHT: Jessica Fontenette (Chino Hills/Bishop Amat) finally grabbed the brass ring, taking the career steals record from Dana Andrews (2006–09) in the Jan. 12 win over Humboldt State. She added seven steals to her larder last week to break the school record of 65 set by Jennifer Lopez in 2006. She now 69 for the season has 177 career steals, eclipsing Andrews' mark by 43. Junior forward Holly Holcomb currently ranks No. 6 on the list with 98.

MUNSCH–ING ON THE URBAN KNIGHTS: Senior forward Gabby Munsch (Lodi/Cal State San Marcos) hit 10–of–14 from the field to match her career high with 21 points in CSUMB's Dec. 5 win over Academy of Art. It was CSUMB's first 20–point game of the season and its first since Stefanie Corgel (Manhattan Beach/UCSB) dropped 20 on Cal State L.A. on Dec. 18, 2011. It's still the only 20–point game by an Otter this season.

BACK–TO–BACK DOUBLE–DOUBLES: Junior forward Ashley Morgan (Rohnert Park/Santa Rosa CC) and Brittani Jefferson each posted double–doubles the weekend of Jan. 4–5, 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.

THAT GIRL GIVES A HAND: Jessica Fontenette matched her personal best with seven assists in the Dec. 5 win over Academy of Art. That mark ties for the No. 8 spot in the CSUMB record book. Fontenette now has 208 career assists, passing Alma Lopez's CSUMB standard of 206 assists set from 2007–08.

THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS: Otter success in the Renee Jimenez era begins with defense. The 2011–12 Otters allowed just 59.6 points per game, marking the third consecutive season they allowed fewer than 60.0 points per game. The Otters entered the week allowing 53.3 ppg, good for No. 8 in the nation among NCAA Division II schools.

BALANCING ACT: While defense remains the forté, the Otter offense found success by doing an insane balancing act once again in 2011–12. CSUMB's top six scorers averaged between 9.8 and 7.6 points per game, marking the second consecutive season that an Otter championship team did not feature a player who averaged in double figures.

OTTERS WEARING RED? While not traditionally a CSUMB color, red will be the color for four Otters who will redshirt the 2012–13 season: One of the redshirts will be a returning player: Sophomore forward Mykayla Harris. They will be joined on the redshirt list by junior wing Kayla Patton and freshman guards Victoria Dorn and Tyvette White.


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