Women's Basketball | November 28, 2017
SEASIDE, Calif. — It will be a busy week for the Cal State Monterey Bay basketball team with three games on the schedule in a 5-day span. The Otters will play and exhibition game at Division I Cal Poly Tuesday (Nov. 28) before hosting a pair of CCAA foes in Humboldt State Thursday (Nov. 30) and Cal State East Bay Saturday (Dec. 1).
The Otters are 3-4 overall and 2-1 in the CCAA. It's their best start in conference action since the 2012-13 season. Cal Poly (for whom Tuesday's game will count) is 2-3 overall while Humboldt is 2-5 (1-1 CCAA) and East Bay is 4-4 (1-2 CCAA).
Live stats and stream for the Cal Poly game will be available online at
www.GoPoly.com. Live stats and video stream for the two home games will be available as usual on
OtterAthletics.com. Kirsten Fairchild will have the call Thursday night and Embele Awaipi will have the mike on Saturday.
MUSTANG 3–DOT NOTES (2–3 OVERALL): Cal Poly is coming off an 88–83 win over the University of San Francisco Sunday afternoon, avenging a season–opening 83–71 loss to the Dons…twin sisters Lynn and Dynn Leaupepe (Sr./F) lead the Mustangs in both scoring (17.4 and 12.0 ppg respectively) and rebounding (6.4 and 5.0 rpg)…Devin Stanback (Jr./C) adds 11.0 ppg and 4.6 rpg.
LUMBERJACK 3–DOT NOTES (2–5, 1–1 CCAA): Thursday's match–up in The Kelp Bed will be Game 4 of a 5–game roadtrip for the Lumberjacks…are coming off a 70–57 win at Cal State San Bernardino Saturday night…other win was a 76–63 decision against Notre Dame de Namur…Tyla Turner (So./G) (Sr./F) and Kindall Murie lead the Jacks at 16.6 and 10.3 ppg respectively…Turner also is HSU's top rebounder at 7.0 rpg.
WHEN LAST WE MET: The Otter defense put the clamps down, holding Humboldt to a CSUMB opponent record low five points in the first quarter en route to a 56–43 win in The Kelp Bed last January.
Courtney Keaton led the Otters by posting an 11–point, 13–rebound double–double. Ashlynn Cox had nine points to lead the Lumberjacks.
WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters led by 18 at the end of three quarters then held off a furious Sonoma State rally to win 64–58 Saturday in The Kelp Bed.
Aubri Smith scored a career–high 29 points while chipping in nine assists and eight rebounds.
Courtney Keaton added a 12–point, 11–rebound double–double.
THE GAME WAS STATISTICALLY OVER WHEN… Aubri Smith pulled down a rebound from Carly Gill's short jumper with five seconds remaining.
THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: The Otters made 11 3–pointers—then the No. 2 mark in the CSUMB record book—en route to a 78–45 win at Sonoma State on Nov. 30, 2012.
JUST FOR SHOW: Tuesday's game will be an exhibition contest for the Otters and, thus, will not count on their overall record. The game will be a countable regular season game for Cal Poly.
A SORT OF HOMECOMING: Tuesday's game will be a homecoming of sorts for the Otter coaching staff. Head Coach
Kerri Nakamoto was an assistant for Faith Mimnaugh at Cal Poly for eight seasons from 2005–06 through 2012–13. Meanwhile, Otter assistant
Ashlee Stewart finished her four–year playing career at Cal Poly in 2010.
ON THE REBOUND… Despite the monster games from Dominican's big forwards, the Otters out–rebounded Dominican 46–45 Wednesday afternoon. It marked the first time this season the Otters have been on the plus side of the rebounding ledger.
29 OR 6 TO 3: The 29 points scored by
Aubri Smith in Saturday's win over Sonoma State rank No. 3 in the CSUMB record book for points scored in a game. Only Dana Andrews (41 at Cal State Dominguez Hills in 2008) and Alma Lopez (33 vs. San Francisco State in 2008) have scored more in an Otter uniform.
TWO OF A KIND: With games of 27 and 29 points this month,
Aubri Smith now owns two of the Top 10 scoring games in CSUMB history. She joins all–time lead scorer Dana Andrews (5) as the only Otter players to have at two games ranked in the Top 10.
OTTERS AMONG THE CCAA LEADERS: Aubri Smith's 20.0 ppg ranks her No. 2 on the CCAA scoring chart as we reach the quarter pole of the regular season. Other Otters amongst the leaders include: REBOUNDING: No. 9
Courtney Keaton (8.7 rpg); ASSISTS: No. 4
Aubri Smith (5.0 apg); STEALS: No. 10
Aubri Smith (2.0 spg).
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 are 6–0 when leading after 35 minutes and 0–27 when trailing after 35 minutes. The women, meanwhile, are 10–0 when leading after 35 and 0–23 when trailing after 35.
THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING: With apologies to Douglas Adams, the answer to everything isn't 42, it's 70. With the Nov. 17 71–70 win at Cal State L.A., CSUMB is now 40–5 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 have won 15 consecutive games when scoring at least 80 points dating back to the 2005–06 season.
GO OTTERS!
