Women's Basketball | February 16, 2016
FULL NOTEBOOK (PDF)SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay women's basketball team will put the lid on its 2015-16 home schedule this weekend when it host Cal State L.A. Friday (Feb. 19) and Cal State Dominguez Hills Saturday (Feb. 20) in The Kelp Bed. Tipoff both nights will be at 5:30 p.m. as the openers of men's/women's doubleheader action.
The Otters are still in the hunt for one of eight CCAA Tournament berths, but they'll need to win both games this weekend to keep hope afloat. L.A. is in the battle with the Otters for a spot while conference-leading Dominugez Hills has already secured a "Top 4" finish and a home game in the first round.
Saturday night will be Senior Night, with the Otters recognizing the Otter and Toro seniors in pregame ceremonies, so be sure to arrive early.
Corey Neal will call the action Friday night and Embele Awaipi with have Saturday night's call on
OtterAthletics.com. Live stats and video will be available on
OtterAthletics.com.
GOLDEN EAGLE 3–DOT NOTES (8–14, 6–10 CCAA): The Golden Eagles saw a 4–game winning streak snapped with a 78–70 loss at Cal State Dominguez Hills Saturday night…have two wins over ranked teams this season: 60–44 over Point Loma (Nov. 28) and 98–92 over Dominguez Hills (Feb. 2)…Sr./F Franeka Hall leads a balanced stat sheet at 12.8 ppg…she also is L.A.'s top rebounder at 5.3 rpg.
WHEN LAST WE MET: The Otters rallied from 18 points down for the biggest comeback in the
Kerri Nakamoto era to beat L.A. 64–60 in The Eagles Nest on Feb. 14, 2015.
McKenna Hill led the way with 21 points.
Jenna Bandy added 19 points and
Jazmine Johnson chipped in 12 rebounds. Aiwekhoe Okungbowa led L.A. with an 11–point, 11–rebound double–double.
WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters had another tough shooting night, connecting on just 25 percent from the floor (including 2–of–20 from beyond the arc) in a 57–42 loss at Humboldt State. A strong defensive effort kept them in the game until late. They had three possessions to cut into a 7–point deficit with around eight minutes remaining but couldn't draw closer.
Alexa Sperling came off the bench to lead the Otters with 12 points.
THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: Julie Heurung set the Otter record for rebounds in a game with 16 in a 53–43 win over Cal State East Bay on Feb. 19, 2010. She would match that mark 11 months later in a win at Chico State. No other Otter has grabbed more than 14 rebounds in a game.
SENIOR NIGHT MAGIC: The Otters will be looking for a little Senior Night magic this weekend. They have won five of their last six home finales dating back to the 2009–10 season.
ON THE REBOUND: While firmly ensconced in the No. 3 spot on the Otter career scoring chart,
McKenna Hill is also making her way up the Otter career rebounding chart, entering Friday's game at No. 3 on that list with 480. She passed Dana Andrews (473 from 2006–09) for third place last week. Krista Herr (2005–08) owns the Otter career rebounding record with 643. Holly Holcomb (2010–14) holds the No. 2 spot with 622.
KEATON JOINS AN EXCLUSIVE CLUB: With 10 rebounds in the Jan. 30 win over San Marcos,
Courtney Keaton joined
Jazmine Johnson as the only Otters to reach double figures in rebounding twice this season.
Rachel Amerine and
McKenna Hill each own one double figures game.
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 61.8 ppg through the first 20 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.
KEEPING IT ON THE DOWN LOW: The Otters haven't scored 70 points in a game since scoring 78 in a season–opening loss to Dominican University—a stretch of 23 games. It's the longest such streak in MB history, eclipsing a 22–game run from Jan. 9–Dec. 13, 2009.
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 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!
