CSUN Faces UCSD & UCI This Week

Women's Basketball Notebook #17

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—CSUN returns to the road for Women's Basketball action this week when the Matadors (6-11, 2-5 Big West) face two of the three teams tied for first in the Big West Conference this week.

The second-half of the conference slate begins Thursday when CSUN is at UC San Diego for a 7 p.m. start. The Matadors will then head to UC Irvine on Saturday for a 2 p.m. game. Both contests will be streamed on ESPN+ with links on GoMatadors.com.

UC San Diego swept Cal Poly (69-58, Jan. 27) and CSU Bakersfield (64-59, Jan. 29) last week. Winners of three in a row, The Tritons have improved to 9-8 overall, 6-2 in Big West play. Sydney Brown is fourth in the Big West in rebounding (8.2), eighth in blocks (0.8), ninth in minutes played (31.9), and 10th in scoring (12.1).

CSUN and UCSD were to have played Jan. 1 in Northridge, but that game was canceled due to COVID protocols in the CSUN program. This is the second time that the teams have played with CSUN leading the all-time series 1-0.

UC Irvine won back-to-back games last week on the road at CSU Bakersfield (81-73, Jan. 27) and Cal Poly (64-52, Jan. 29). UCI has won three of their past four games and are 11-8 overall, 6-2 in Big West action. Both UCSD and UCI are tied with Long Beach State for first in the Big West.

Kayla Williams is sixth in the Big West in scoring at 14.1 points per game. Williams is in the top 10 in the league in made three-point field goals per game (3rd, 2.0), assists (4th, 4.4), assist-to-turnover ratio (4th, 1.6), free throw shooting (9th, 72.7), and steals (4th, 2.2).

The Matadors and the Anteaters had their Dec. 28 game canceled due to COVID protocols in the CSUN program. Saturday marks the 59th that UC Irvine and the Matadors are playing women's basketball with CSUN leading the all-time series 31-27.

CSUN dropped a pair of games last week. The Matadors fell 61-54 to UC Santa Barbara last Tuesday in Isla Vista. Jordyn Jackson led CSUN with 14 points. Anaiyah Tu'ua scored 12 and tied for the team lead with Tess Amundsen and Meghann Henderson with five rebounds. She added three steals. Amundsen scored 11 while Spriggs posted 10.

Hawai'i defeated CSUN 76-67 last Saturday in the Matadome. Amundsen scored a game-high 20 points. She went 6-of-12 from the floor, 4-of-6 from three-point range, and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Spriggs scored 10 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Woodley added 10 points off the bench along with four steals.

Hawai'i committed 24 turnovers against the Matadors, the most by a CSUN Division I opponent in a game this season. As a team, CSUN is 89th in turnovers forced (18.18), and 112th in turnover margin (1.71). The Matador three-point field goal defense is now 55th best in Division I (27.7). Woodley has moved up to 12th in Division I in steals per game as she is averaging 2.91 a game this season. She is 50th in Division I in total steals with 50.

~#UniteTheValley~

CSUN Faces UCSD & UCI This Week

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Players Mentioned

Tess Amundsen

Meghann Henderson

Jordyn Jackson

Anaiyah Tu'ua