Women's Basketball | November 17, 2017

SEASIDE, Calif. — Cal State Monterey will take a short roadtrip by heading to Southern California for its first two CCAA games of the season. The Otters will play at Cal State L.A. Friday (Nov. 17) and Cal State Dominguez Hills Saturday (Nov. 18) before returning to The Kelp Bed the following week to begin a 4–game homestand.

Tip-off both nights will be at 5:30 p.m. and the opener of men's/women's doubleheader action.

Fans who can't make it to the L.A. area for the games can listen to Rob Ponce's call both night. The audio stream will be on OtterAthletics.com both nights.

Cal State L.A. and Cal State Dominguez Hills will both offer live stats and live video streams. The links can also before on OtterAthletics.com.
 

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CAL STATE L.A. 3–DOT NOTES (0–2 OVERALL): It's been a rough start for Cal State L.A. in its abbreviated preconference schedule, with losses to Central Washington, Alaska–Anchorage and Northwest Nazarene…the Golden Eagles' four leading scorers all average in double figures, but the next highest is at just 4.0 ppg…So./G Mackenzie Barnes leads CSULA at 16.0 ppg…Sr./C Rikke Fabricius averages a double–double at 10.0 ppg and 11.3 rpg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: The Golden Eagles raced to a 30–9 lead in the first quarter but, despite pulling to within four points in the fourth quarter, the Otters couldn't climb all the way out of that hole in a 70–62 loss in L.A. on Jan. 21. McKenna Hill and Christine Golfo led the Otters with 20 and 11 points respectively. Rikke Fabricius had a 25–point, 11–rebound double–double for L.A.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters played their most complete game of the young season, building leads as large as 31 points in an 84–69 win over Academy of Art Tuesday in The Kelp Bed. Aubri Smith scored a career–high 24 points to lead the Otters while Courtney Keaton pulled down a career–high 16 rebounds.

THE GAME WAS STATISTICALLY OVER WHEN… Jennifer Saelio's 3–pointer made it 66–35 Otters with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter.

THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: Alma Lopez passed eight assists at Cal Baptist on Nov. 17, 2007. At the time, it was the Otter record for assists against an NCAA Division II opponent.

FOR HOME OPENERS: The Otters improved to 5–0 in home openers under Kerri Nakamoto. The Otters now have won 12 consecutive home openers dating back to the 2006–07 season. They are 12–2 in home openers at the NCAA Division II level.

FOR CCAA OPENERS: The Otters are 6–7 all–time in CCAA openers. In CCAA openers on the road, the Otters are 1–3 all–time, with the one win a 78–45 victory at Sonoma State on Nov. 30, 2012.

ISN'T IT KINDA EARLY? Not only does Christmas seem to come earlier every year, so to does the start of CCAA play. In case you're wondering, this will be the earliest the Otters have ever opened conference play (CCAA or Cal–Pac). The previous record for a first conference game came when the Otters played at San Francisco State on Nov. 21, 2010.

SMITH ONE–UPS HERSELF: After posting a personal record 21 points against Northwest Nazarene University (Nov. 11), Aubri Smith came back to top that number in CSUMB's next game with 24 points in the win over Academy of Art (Nov. 17).

20–20 VISION: Aubri Smith's consecutive 20–point games mark the first time an Otter has scored 20–plus points back–to–back since Jenna Bandy had consecutive 21–point nights versus Chico State and Cal Poly Pomona on Jan. 24 & 30, 2015. She is looking to become just the second player in Otter history to score 20–plus in three consecutive games and the first since Helen Suarez did it in four straight from Jan. 16–30, 2008.

WHY PLAY 40 MINUTES? The final five minutes of games have been all but irrelevant for the Otter men's and women's basketball teams since last season. Since the start of 2016–17, the Otter men 4–0 when leading after 35 minutes and 0–24 when trailing after 35 minutes. The women, meanwhile, are 8–0 when leading after 35 and 0–21 when trailing after 35.

70 IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING: With apologies to Douglas Adams, the answer to everything isn't 42, it's 70. With Tuesday's 84–69 win over Academy of Art, CSUMB is now 39–5 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 now have won 15 consecutive games when scoring at least 80 points dating back to the 2005–06 season.