California State University Northridge Athletics
California State University at Northridge
Penn State
Thanksgiving Tournament Highlights Matadors' Weekend
11/24/2015 2:31:00 PM | Women's Basketball
CSUN Women's Hoops Meets Penn State and Georgia or BYU
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. --- The CSUN women's basketball team (0-4) brings Penn State, BYU and Georgia to the San Fernando Valley for the Radisson Hotel Chatsworth Thanksgiving Basketball Classic. The event runs on Friday, Nov. 27 and Saturday, Nov. 28 with two games each day inside The Matadome.Â
CSUN will open the tournament at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Friday with a match-up against the Big Ten Conference's Nittany Lions. That game will follow a BYU-Georgia tilt that tips off at 5 p.m. On Saturday, BYU will take on either CSUN or Penn State at 2 p.m. with Georgia squaring off against the other at approximately 4:30 p.m. All four games will feature live stats and both CSUN contests will boast both live audio and live video with links available at GoMatadors.com.Â
Last week, CSUN went 0-2 on a roadtrip at Idaho and Eastern Washington. Tessa Boagni led the Matadors in scoring in both contests and poured in a career-high 21 points and nine field goals in the game against the Eagles. She is now averaging a team-high 13 points per game while shooting an even 50 percent from the field.Â
Freshman Channon Fluker also finished in double figures against EWU, scoring a career-high 12 points to go with a career-high eight rebounds. She is the team's top rebounder through four games, averaging 6.3 per contest.Â
This weekend, several prominent women's basketball programs come to CSUN as part of the Radisson Hotel Chatsworth Thanksgiving Basketball Classic. Penn State will be making its second trip to CSUN to participate in the Thanksgiving Basketball Classic. In 2012, the Nittany Lions defeated Detroit and CSUN to capture the tournament championship.Â
BYU hails from Provo, UT and the West Coast Conference. CSUN registered its first win ever against BYU last year, recording a 63-54 victory in Utah last season. The Cougars advanced to the 2015 NCAA Tournament for the third time in the past four seasons. Georgia hails from the powerful Southeastern Conference. Joni Taylor is in her first season as the head coach at Georgia, although she spent the last three seasons as the Bulldogs' associate head coach.
Scouting Penn State
- The Penn State Lady Lions enter the week with a 3-1 overall record
- The Lady Lions have wins over Holy Cross, Fordham and Central Connecticut State and a loss at Tennessee
- Peyton Whitted is averaging a team-high 15.8 points and 37 minutes per game while shooting 52.1 percent from the field
- Whitted is also averaging a team-best 13.3 rebounds per contest and has 13 assists in four games
- Brianna Banks is averaging 14 ppg and is shooting 53.1 percent from the field
- Teniya Page is third on the team in scoring at 13.8 ppg and leads the club with 22 assists
- Coquese Washington is in her ninth season as the head coach at Penn State and is a three-time Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year
- The Lady Lions defeated CSUN in the 2012 CSUN Thanksgiving Tournament Classic Championship Game
- The BYU Cougars are 2-2 overall on the season and hail from the West Coast Conference
- BYU has defeated Utah Valley and Utah State at home, but suffered road losses at Oklahoma and Colorado State
- Lexi Rydalch is averaging a team-best 22.8 points per game while shooting 44.4 percent from 3-point range
- Makenzi Pulsipher is averaging 12.0 ppg and is shooting 40 percent from 3-point range
- Kalani Purcell leads the team in rebounding at 13.0 per game while also averaging 8.8 ppg
- Jeff Judkins is in his 15th season as the head coach of BYU
- CSUN recorded its first win ever over the Cougars last year, scoring a 63-54 decision in Provo in November of 2014
- The Georgia Bulldogs hail from the powerful Southeastern Conference
- The Bulldogs are 3-1 overall after defeating Georgia Southern 75-28 on Nov. 24
- Merritt Hempe leads the team at 16 ppg while shooting 63 percent from the field
- Tiaria Griffin is second the team in scoring through four games, averaging 13.3 points per game while shooting 41 percent from the field
- Shacobia Barbee is averaging 11.0 ppg and a team-best 10.8 rebounds per game
- Joni Taylor is in her first season as the head coach at Georgia, although she spent the last three seasons as the Bulldogs' associate head coach
- CSUN and Georgia have never met in women's basketball and the Matadors are 0-7 all-time against the SEC
Next Week, CSUN hits the road again for two more non-conference games. The Matadors play at Southern Utah (Dec. 1) and Utah (Dec. 3) with live stats and live video available for both contests.Â
