Feb. 23, 2010

UCI TRAVELS TO NORTHRIDGE: The UC Irvine women's basketball team (8-18, 5-8) will travel to Cal State Northridge Saturday (Feb. 27) in the lone game of the week. The game tips-off at 4:00 p.m. at the Matadome.  

VERSUS THE MATADORS: UCI leads Cal State Northridge, 18-17 in the series records, winning the last five outings.

In the first meeting, UCI picked up its first conference victory with a 69-64 win over the Matadors. Mikah Maly-Karros recorded a double-double with a team-high 19 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Junior guard Jade Smith-Williams totaled 15 points, nine assists and four steals. Keyonna Johnson added 11 points and four assists. Cal State Northridge was led by Jasmine Erving with a game-high 20 points and six rebounds. Katrina Thompson tallied 15 points and a team-best seven rebounds.  Janelle Nomura went 3-6 from the floor and finished with 11 points.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: UCI is 2-11 on the road this year. The Anteaters lone Big West win on the road was at Pacific (68-57) on Jan. 27.

BIG WEST CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Feb. 22)

TEAM                        BIG WEST     OVERALL

Cal Poly                     10-3   .769     17-8   .680

UC Davis                   9-3     .750     17-8   .680

UC Riverside             9-4     .692     12-14 .462

Long Beach State     8-5     .615     12-14 .462

Cal State Fullerton     6-7     .462     12-15 .444

UC Santa Barbara     6-7     .462     9-16   .360

UC Irvine                    5-8     .385     8-18   .308

Pacific                        2-10   .167    4-20   .167

Cal State Northridge  2-10   .167     4-20   .167

30+: UCI has had two players score 30 or more points twice this season. No other Big West team can make that claim. Mikah Maly-Karros posted 35 points at Paciifc and 34 points at UC Davis, while Jade Smith-Williams had 32 against South Florida and 31 versus UC Riverside. 

MOVIN UP THE RECORD BOOKS: Mikah Maly-Karros is now tied for fifth in the UCI season record books for most free throws made with 119. She is also tied for 10^th in free throws attempted (149).  Jade Smith-Williams is tied for ninth with 107 free throws made.  Natasha Parks owns the school record for most free throws made in a season with 135 in 1988-89.

STEPPING UP TO THE LINE: UCI is shooting .694 from the free throw line making 428-617 in 26 games this season. The Anteaters were 340-531 (.640) overall from the line in 2008-09 and 403-604 (.667) in 2007-08.

FROM DOWNTOWN: UCI has averaged 5.3 three-pointers over the last three games. The Anteaters average 3.3 on the year. Eight different Anteaters have knocked down a three this year.

ON THE BOARDS: UCI has out-rebounded eight of the last nine opponents. The Anteaters average 37.5 rebounds as opponents grab 38.5 caroms per game. UCI leads the conference in league-only offensive rebounds averaging 16.69.

MALY-KARROS LEADS: Sophomore Mikah-Maly Karros leads the Big West and ranks 21^st in the nation in double-doubles with 12. She leads UCI with a 19.7 scoring and 12.1 rebound average. She holds the Big West top mark for points (35), rebounds (17), free throws made (16) and attempted (23) in a game. Maly-Karros does not show up in the Big West overall statistics until she plays in 75% of the teams games, but she ranks second in scoring in league games only with a 19.6 mark and leads the conference in rebounding with a 12.2 average. She has totaled 20 or more points in six of the last seven games.

ANTEATERS FALL TO RIVERSIDE: Jade Smith-Williams recorded 31 points but it was not enough as UC Riverside defeated the Anteaters, 80-66 at the Bren Center last week.

Rebecca Maessen would hit a layup to narrow the score to 62-61 with 6:04 to go. The Highlanders would then end the game, outscoring UCI 18-5 to clinch the 80-66 victory.

Smith-Williams led all players with 31 points, going 8-20 from the floor and 11-14 from the line.  Mikah Maly Karros grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to go with 16 points, while Maessen added 13 points and seven rebounds. The Anteaters out-rebounded the Highlanders 43-30. UCR shot 50.9 percent (27-53) from the floor for the game, including 58.3 (14-24) in the second half. UCI shot 31.1 percent from the field overall and knocked down a season-high seven three-pointers.

PUTTIN IT IN THE HOOP: The Anteaters are averaging 62.5 points per game overall this year after managing just 49.5 a year ago. UCI has scored more than 60 points 17 times this year, while only doing it six times over 30 games in 2008-09.

SOO CLOSE: The Anteaters have lost seven games this year by six points or less, including four contests by three or less.