Women's Basketball | December 07, 2015
SEASIDE, Calif. — It's been a long time coming and Otter fans are hoping it will prove to be worth the wait. The Cal State Monterey Bay women's basketball team will play its 2015-16 home openers this weekend when it hosts Stanislaus State (Friday) and Cal Poly Pomona (Sunday) in The Keklp Bed. The Otters return to the friendly confines after opening with seven consecutive road games (plus an exhibition) to start the season.
Surprisingly, this will not be the latest home opener in Otter history. The 2005–06 squad didn't play its first home game until Dec. 20.
Tipoff Friday will be at 5:30 p.m.. Saturday will tip at 1 p.m. Both games will be carried live on www.OtterAthletics.com.
WARRIOR 3–DOT NOTES (6–2, 2–0 CCAA): After dropping its first two games, Stanislaus enters the week on a the roll of a 5–game winning streak. They won their CCAA openers last week by beating San Bernardino at home (58–57) and San Francisco State on the road (61–54)…Cassidy Sanders–Curry is the lone Warrior scoring in double figures at 10.8 ppg…she also leads balanced Stanislaus rebounding table at 5.3 rpg.
WHEN LAST WE MET: Stanislaus ended last season with a big win, leading wire–to–wire in an 82–46 win in Fitzpatrick Arena on Feb. 28. Playing her final collegiate game,
Jenna Bandy led the Otters with 14 points and eight rebounds. Camille Roberts led five Warriors in double figures with 17 points.
THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: Oddly enough, this will be just the second time the Otters have played on a Dec. 11. Their only previous appearance on the date was a 91–77 loss to Central Washington at the Seattle University Tournament on Dec. 11, 2005.
LARGE MARGE(INS): The 22–point margin in CSUMB's 67–45 win last week with the third largest margin of victory in a road game in the NCAA Division II era of Otter women's basketball.
A HIGH LOW: The Otters scored 78 points in their season–opening loss to Dominican University. The Otters hadn't scored that many points in a loss since dropping an 85–79 decision to Cal State Stanislaus on Dec. 6, 2008. That's a span of 191 games.
THE DOUBLE–DOUBLE TWINS: Rachel Amerine joined
Jazmine Johnson in the double–double club with 11 points and 10 rebounds in last week's win over NDNU.
ON THE REBOUND: Jazmine Johnson pulled down a career–high 14 rebounds in the win over Western Oregon. Only Julie Heurung—who twice grabbed 16 rebounds in a game—has posted more rebounds in a game in an Otter uniform. Oddly enough, three of the Otters who are tied behind Heurung at 14 rebounds are active players: Johnson,
Mykayla Harris and
McKenna Hill.
GIVE THAT GIRL A HAND FOR GIVING A HAND: Stephanie Sack is in a giving mood this holiday season. She entered the week leading the CCAA and ranked No. 27 nationally by averaging 5.7 assists per game. In case you're wondering, Helen Suarez owns the Otter season records for total assists (119) and assists per game (4.6) both set during the 2008–09 season.
CLIMBING THE SCORING HILL: Junior
McKenna Hill is averaging 13.3 points per game as we near the season's quarter pole. She's on pace to score 383 points in the regular season, which would rank as the No. 3 scoring season in Otter history.
THE DEFENSE DOESN'T REST: After allowing just 69.4 points per game last season, the Otters are up to their old defensive tricks again by allowing 64.9 ppg through the first seven games. The Otters have held their opponents under 70 points per game for seven consecutive seasons.
WORKING OVERTIME: With their 53–52 overtime win at Fresno Pacific on Nov. 24, the Otters improved to 6–3 in overtime games at the NCAA level. 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. CSUMB is now 35–4 when scoring 70 or more points since the 2008–09 season. Up that number to 80 points and the the numbers get even more impressive. The Otters have won 16 consecutive games when scoring at least 80 points dating back to the 2005–06 season.
GO OTTERS!
