Women's Basketball | January 03, 2018

SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay women's basketball team hopes to start 2018 in winning style as it welcomes Stanislaus State to The Kelp Bed for the first Otter Athletics event of the new year.

Fans who can't make it to Seaside for the game can follow all of the action live on OtterAthletics.com. Embele Awaipi will call the play-by-play on the video stream. Live stats will be available as always. 
 

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WARRIOR 3–DOT NOTES (6–8, 3–5 CCAA): After opening the season 5–3, the Warriors have fallen on hard times, dropping five of their last six, including a 79–52 decision to UCSD on New year's Eve…3 of 6 wins have come in overtime…1–5 away from home this season…no player is averaging in double figures…Erika Larsen (Sr./C) and Lizzy Alexander (So./F) top the scoring chart at 9.3 and 9.2 ppg respectively…Larsen is the top rebounder at 7.2 rpg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: The Otters led by 10 with 3:45 to play before a late Stanislaus run trimmed the lead to one point in the final 20 seconds. But a pair of Christine Golfo free throws and a late Warrior turnover allowed CSUMB to escape with the 61–58 win. Victoria Dorn led the Otters with 22 points and McKenna Hill passed seven assists. Cassidy Sanders–Curry led Stanislaus with 19 points.

WHEN LAST WE PLAYED: The Otters led by as many as 11 points and led 56–55 with less than three minutes remaining, but San Bernardino rallied to pull out a 65–60 win in Coussoulis Arena on New Year's Eve eve. Aubri Smith led CSUMB with 17 points. Emily Hardin scored 11 and Brianna Tucker passed five assists. Kaitlyn Parks led the Coyotes with 17 points.

THE GAME WAS STATISTICALLY OVER WHEN… Jasmine Sauser blocked Emily Hardin's 3–point attempt with fives seconds remaining.

THIS DATE IN OTTER HISTORY: The Otters set a (then) school record by going 17-of-19 from the free–throw line (.895) versus Dominican University on Jan. 4, 2003. Despite the record–setting performance, the Penguins won the game, 93–42.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE… The CSUMB–Stanislaus series has been dominated by the home team, with CSUMB 10–3 in The Kelp bed and Stanislaus 10–4 in Fitzpatrick Arena. In fact, the home team has held serve in the last nine meetings dating to 2013.

HOT AND COLD… The Otters had their best–shooting first half (11-of-25, 44.0 pct.) in 10 games Saturday night. But they went ice cold again (9-of-30, 30.0 pct.) in the second half.

HOT AND COLD, TAKE II… Like CSUMB, Cal State San Bernardino has struggled shooting the ball this season. The Coyotes shot an uncharacteristic 49.0 pct (24-of-49) in Saturday's win. To rub salt in the wound, they also made a season–high 11 3–pointers and shot a season–high 50.0 pct (11-of-22) from beyond the arc.

AN ARCTIC BLAST: CSUMB recent cold spell has been a bitter one. The Otters have shot less than 30 percent from the floor in four of their last seven games. To put that in perspective, the Otters have never shot less than 30 percent in a game more than five times in an entire season since moving to the NCAA level in 2004.

ON THE DOWN LOW… CSUMB's 31 points Friday night at Pomona were its low water mark for points at the NCAA level (dating back to the 2004–05 season). Their previous low as an NCAA program was 35 in a 55–35 NCAA Tournament loss to Grand Canyon on Mar. 12, 2011. The all–time record for fewest points in a game was 27 in a 58-27 loss to Cal State Hayward on Feb. 11, 2000.

ON THE DOWN LOW, QUARTERLY EDITION… The two points scored by the Otters in the first quarter last Friday night at Pomona set a school record for fewest points in a quarter. The previous record was four points against Chico State on Feb. 25, 2017. For what it's worth, the seven points scored in the second quarter rank No. 6 on that same list.

WHY PLAY 40 MINUTES? The final five minutes have been all but irrelevant. CSUMB is 10–0 when leading after 35 and 0–30 when trailing after 35 dating back to the 2015–16 season.

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.