SEASIDE, Calif. -- The Cal State Monterey Bay women's basketball team will look to take advantage of a weekend of home cooking when it takes a short hiatus from back-to-back 4-game roadtrips by hosting San Francisco State (Jan. 24) and Sonoma State (Jan. 25) in The Kelp Bed.

As always, fans who can't make it to the games may listen and watch live on www.OtterAthletics.com. Veteran play-by-play man Kevin Richardson (@krichardson46) will call the action from courtside. Live stats will be available at www.OtterAthletics.com.

After this weekend, the Otters will embark on there second 4-game roadtrip of the month, begining Jan. 31 at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

SCOUTING THE GATORS (9–7, 5–5 CCAA): San Francisco State got off to a solid start, winning three straight and seven of its first nine to open the season. The Gators have stumbled a bit in recent weeks, however, losing four of their last five entering Friday's game in Seaside. They do find themselves in the thick of the CCAA Tournament race as we hit the midway point this weekend, with key head–to–head wins over Chico, Stanislaus and Cal State L.A. Senior Katie Batlin, a transfer from St. Mary's, leads a top–heavy stat sheet at 14.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.

WHEN LAST WE MET: The Gators had CSUMB on the ropes, but the Otters rallied back from a 14–point deficit in the second half to upend SFSU 63–58 in The Kelp Bed on Feb. 1, 2013. Stefanie Corgel's 3–pointer capped a 20–4 run that helped the Otters climb out of a 53–39 hole with 7:40 to play. Brittani Jefferson led CSUMB with 11 points and nine rebounds. Nicole Hicks led SFSU with 15 points.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED, OTTER EDITION: The Otters went toe–to–toe for 30 minutes at Chico State Saturday night (out–scored the Wildcats over that stretch, actually) but one 10–minute cold spell undid all that work as Chico State pulled out a 62–48 win. After tying the game at 6–6, the Otters didn't score for the next 9:59, allowing a 15–0 Wildcat run that proved to be the difference. Chezla Self (Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta College) led CSUMB with a career–high 17 points.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED, GATOR EDITION: In a game that wasn't decided until the final two minutes, UCSD snapped San Francisco State's 7–game home win streak with a 62–54 victory Saturday night in The Swamp. Katie Batlin led the Gators with a 16–point, 10–rebound double–double. Lauren Varney added a double–double of her own, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: This will be just the second time the Otters have played a game on Jan. 24 as an NCAA member. CSUMB got 26 points from Dana Andrews and 20 points from Helen Suarez to defeat Cal State San Bernardino 65–58 in Coussoulis Arena on Jan. 24, 2009.

MAKING A NAME FOR HER"SELF": Senior wing Chezla Self has been making a name for herself since joining the starting lineup on Dec. 21. She's averaging 8.9 points per game in her seven starts (tops on the team over that stretch), including career highs of 15 points at UCSD (Jan. 11) and 17 points at Chico State (Jan. 18) in two of her last three appearances.

DROUGHT CONDITIONS I: For the third consecutive game, the Otters went at least 10 minutes without making a field goal (technically 9:59) Saturday at Chico State. This time, the Otters went 0–for–13 from the floor during the cold spell. The Otter defense held Chico to a respectable 15 points over that stretch, but the 15–0 run proved to be the difference in Chico's 14–point victory.

DROUGHT CONDITIONS II: The Otters have had at least one scoreless stretch of six minutes or more during each game of the their current 10–game losing streak and in 11 of their 13 games overall.

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR: The Otters dropped consecutive games by one point (47–46) at San Bernardino (Jan. 10) and two points (40–38) at UC San Diego (Jan. 11). It marked the first time ever that the Otters played consecutive games decided by a total of three points. The previous record for consecutive close games was five points, with the Otters falling at San Francisco State (55–52) and to Cal State Dominguez Hills (52–50) on Feb. 10–12, 2010.

THEY'RE CALLED FREE, BUT THEY'RE COSTLY: They may be called free throws, but they've been incredibly costly to the Otters through the first 13 games. CSUMB has attempted just 156 free throws so far this season (an anemic 12.0 attempts per game). By comparison, CSUMB opponents have attempted 318 (24.5 attempts per game), more than twice as many. To put that imbalance in even greater relief, Otter opponents have made 64 more free throws (220) than the Otters have attempted (156).

A BREAK IN THE FREE–THROW HAZE: The Otters attempted more free throws, 13–10, than the Tritons did at UC San Diego (marking the first time this season that has happened) and now have a 52–47 FTA advantage over the last three games.

MORGAN ON THE REBOUND: Senior forward Ashley Morgan (Rohnert Park/Santa Rosa JC) set a personal record by grabbing 14 rebounds last weekend at UC San Diego They were the most rebounds in a game by an Otter since Julie Heurung grabbed 16 at Chico State on Jan. 22, 2011.

ALL SINGLES HITTERS: The Jan. 4 game versus Cal Poly Pomona marked the first (and only) game this season in which no Otter scored in double figures (Victoria Dorn led the team with eight points). That was the first time no Otter reached double figures since Stefani Corgel and Nikki Beckman (Dublin/Ohlone College) shared team–high honors with eight points apiece in a 51–38 win over Cal State East Bay on Dec. 8, 2012—a span of 33 games.

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.

THE DEFENSE DOESN'T REST: Defense continues to be the staple of the Otter diet, with CSUMB entering the week allowing a CCAA–leading 60.8 points per game. The Otters enter the week ranked No. 2 in the West Region and No. 32 in the nation in scoring defense.

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, 2013 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.