Women's Basketball | February 24, 2016
FULL NOTEBOOK (PDF) SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay women's basketball team will look to knock off a title contender in its 2015-16 season finale when it heads to Hayward to take on CCAA leader Cal State East Bay Saturday (Feb. 27).
Tipoff Friday will be at 5:30 p.m. as the opening game of men's/women's doubleheader action.
EastBayPioneers.com will carry a free live video stream and live stats. The free live audio stream will be on OtterAthletics.com with Ropb Ponce calling the action live from courtside.
PIONEER 3–DOT NOTES (23–4, 17–2 CCAA): East Bay can clinch a share of the CCAA title with a win Saturday night vs. the Otters…the Pioneers would clinch the No. 1 seed in the CCAA Tournament with a win and loss this week…East Bay enters the week ranked in the top five nationally in scoring defense at 52.7 ppg allowed…Sr./F Tori Breshers leads three Pioneers scoring in double figures at 14.3 ppg…she is also the team's top rebound (6.6 rpg).
WHEN LAST WE MET: The East Bay defense was in full bloom, holding the Otters to a season–low 40 points in a 56–40 Pioneer win on Jan. 26 in The Kelp Bed. A 21–8 second quarter gave East Bay a 35–17 lead at intermission and that was all she wrote.
Victoria Dorn led the Otters with 12 points. Remy Puou had 14 for the Pioneers.
WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters did a yeoman's job of battling back from a game–opening 16–2 run by Cal State Dominguez Hills, but couldn't get over the hump in a 65–56 loss Saturday night in The Kelp Bed. The Otters closed the gap to four points by halftime but got no closer than six the rest of the way.
McKenna Hill led the offense with 15 points while
Courtney Keaton pulled down 14 rebounds.
THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: The Otters will be seeking their first–ever Feb. 27th victory Saturday night. They are 0–3 on the date, including a tough 69–66 loss at Chico State in 2015.
HOME AWAY FROM HOME: The Otters will be playing in Pioneer Gym for the fifth time this season when they meet Cal State East Bay Saturday night. They are 2–2 there so far, with wins over Western Oregon (Nov. 14) and Notre Dame de Namur (Nov. 28).
SWAN SONGS: Regular season finales have not been kind to the Otters since the move to NCAA Division II status in 2005. CSUMB is 3–9 in those games, including a 1–1 mark under
Kerri Nakamoto. CSUMB's last win on a regular season capper was a 61–50 win at San Francisco State on Mar. 1, 2014.
14 IS NOT THE LONELIEST NUMBER: When it comes to rebounding, 14 is a very popular number on the Otter leaderboard. Julie Heurung owns the MB game record with 16. Behind her,
Courtney Keaton became the sixth different Otter to grab 14 in a game, a feat she accomplished Saturday night vs. Dominguez Hills. Remarkably, she became the fourth
current Otter to grab 14 in a game, joining
Mykayla Harris,
McKenna Hill and
Jazmine Johnson (twice).
BOMBS AWAY: Victoria Dorn matched her career high with five 3–pointers in last Friday's win over Cal State L.A. She joins Dana Andrews and Erika Ward as the only Otters to make at least five treys in one game three or more times in a career.
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 Saturday's game at No. 6 on that list with 404. She needs 12 more to catch Julie Heurung (416) for the No. 5 spot. Krista Herr (2005–08) owns the Otter record with 643.
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 62.0 ppg through the first 26 games. The Otters have held their opponents under 70 points per game for seven consecutive seasons.
WORKING OVERTIME: With their 75–70 overtime win against Cal State L.A. last week, the Otters improved to 7–3 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 broke there streak by scoring 75 points in last Friday's win over Cal State L.A.. They hadn't scored 70 points in a game since scoring 78 in a season–opening loss to Dominican University—a stretch of 23 games. It was 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 36–4 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!
