Women's Basketball | November 10, 2015
SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay women's basketball team will jump into the 2015–16 season with both feet this weekend when they head to Hayward for the East Bay Conference Challenge Nov. 13–14 at Cal State East Bay's Pioneer Gym. The Otters will open against resurgent Dominican University Friday before meeting Great Northwest Conference foe Western Oregon Saturday.
Tipoff for both games will be 2 p.m.
Corey Neal will call the action live from courtside on www.OtterAthletics.com.
To view this weeks preview video,
CLICK HERE.
PENGUIN 3–DOT NOTES (9–15, 6–14 CCAA): In his first season on the San Rafael campus, Tim La Kose led the Penguins to their first .500 season at the NCAA Division II level in 2014–15…Jr./G Allyssa Weatherd returns after leading DU in scoring (17.7 ppg) while adding 7.2 rpg, 2.8 apg and 1.4 spg…the Penguins lost center Sarah Nelson to graduation after she averaged a double–double last season (14.1 ppg/11.0 rpg).
WHEN LAST WE MET: Erika Ward knocked down a 3–pointer on the game's opening possession and the Otters never trailed in a 62–44 win at Dominican on Dec. 18, 2010. Ward (13 points) was the only player for either team to score in double figures.
FOR OPENERS: The Otters saw a streak of seven consecutive opening day wins dating back to the 2008–09 snapped by Academy of Art last season at the NDNU Tournament. The Otters are 7–5 on opening days since moving up to the NCAA Division II ranks in 2004–05.
THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: This will be the first Nov. 13 game in Otter women's basketball history. Last season's opener was the Otters' first on a Nov. 14. In that game,
Nikki Beckman's nine points led a balanced MB scoresheet in a 73–56 loss to Academy of Art.
RED–HOT HILL: McKenna Hill finished last season the hottest run of her young career. She recorded her first collegiate double–double (18 points, 10 rebounds) Feb. 20 versus Humboldt State. That effort followed a (temporary) career–high 21 points Feb. 21 at Cal State L.A. She topped that with 25 points at Chico State on Feb. 27. She averaged 14.2 points per game over her last 11 games.
GO (DOUBLE) FIGURE: With
McKenna Hill at 11.2 points per game and
Jenna Bandy at 13.6 ppg, the Otters had two players average in double figures for the 2014–15 season. It marked the first time an Otter duo has turned that trick since Dana Andrews (14.8) and Helen Suarez (14.3) did it for the 2008–09 season.
JAZMINE FROM THE BLOCK: After setting a personal record with four blocks in the Feb. 6 win over San Francisco State (now No. 5 in MB history),
Jazmine Johnson exploded for a school–record six blocks the following night in the win over Sonoma State. Julie Heurung (with five blocks on three separate occasions) owned the old record. Johnson finished with 40 blocks for the season, passing Julie Heurung (39 in 2011) for the CSUMB single season record.
MORE BANG FOR YOUR BLOCK: Jazmine Johnson's 40 blocks worked out to an average of 1.5 bpg, good for the No. 3 spot among the CCAA leaders. In fact, her 40 blocks already rank No. 5 on the Otter career list. Julie Heurung owns the career record with 77 blocks in the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
TAKE THEM, THEY'RE FREE: One area which the Otters excelled as a team in 2014–15 was at the charity stripe. The Otters shot 70.2 percent from the line last season, good for the No. 2 season in MB history. Only the 2008–09 team (70.6) did better.
THE DEFENSE DOESN'T REST: The Otters allowed just 69.4 points per game last season. It marked the seventh consecutive season in which the Otters held their opponents under 70 points per game.
WORKING OVERTIME: With their 63–59 overtime win versus Stanislaus on Jan. 23 last season, the Otters improved to 5–3 in overtime games at the NCAA level. It was CSUMB's first overtime win since defeating Sonoma State 64–59 (1 OT) on Dec. 3, 2011. CSUMB has played only two Division II seasons (2006 & 2012) without playing at least one overtime game.
70 IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING: With apologies to Douglas Adams, the answer to everything isn't 42, it's 70. With the 84–80 win at San Francisco State on Jan. 3, CSUMB is now 35–2 when scoring 70 or more points since the 2008–09 season. Prior to the 2013 regular season finale (an 84–75 overtime loss to Chico State), the Otters hadn't scored 70 in defeat since a 85–79 loss to Cal State Stanislaus on Dec. 6, 2008.
GO OTTERS!
