CSUN Hosts Afternoon Matchup Against Pepperdine

Game Notes

Northridge, Calif – CSUN Women's Basketball (2-3, 0-0 Big West) will host its first home game in 23 days as the Matadors welcome the Pepperdine Waves (3-2, 0-0 WCC) on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 2 p.m.. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and Jill Painter-Lopez will be on the call.

ABOUT LAST WEEK
The Matadors took the bus up north for a two-game road trip. The first matchup was against the Fresno State Bulldogs on Nov. 22. CSUN would fall to Fresno State 90-73, despite a 31-point fourth quarter.

AT FRESNO STATE
In Friday night's game against Fresno State, junior Erika Aspajo led all Matador scorers with 14 points.

Two more Matadors scored in double figures as well, as Erica Adams tallied 11 points with eight coming in the third quarter. Karsen Marshall was lights out from deep in the fourth, as she went 4-6 from beyond the arc in the final quarter to bring her total to 12.

In a first half filled with solid defense from both teams, CSUN would force 10 turnovers in the first and Fresno State would force 13. The defense from the Matadors resulted in Fresno State being held scoreless from the field for the final 3:02 of the half. The score would end up being 43-22 going into the break.

The third quarter was the highest scoring quarter so far for both teams, CSUN tallied 20 points, led by Adams who had nine points in the period. Fresno State would end the third on a 68-42 lead.

CSUN would not go down without a fight, as the fourth quarter was one of the best played quarters for the Matadors all season. The 31-point fourth quarter was the Matadors' highest scoring quarter all season, eclipsing the 24 scored in the fourth quarter against Utah State (11/08/24). Fresno State ultimately ended up with the victory.

AT SAN JOSE STATE

The second game of the road trip was at San Jose State on Sunday Nov. 24 as the Matadors would drop that contest 62-44.

The Sunday contest saw both teams go back-and-forth in the first half. SJSU would end the first quarter on a 7-0 run as the Spartans led by seven heading into the second quarter. The second quarter saw good defense from both teams. CSUN held SJSU to 26.7% shooting (4-15) as the Matadors had four blocks, two of which came from center Nnenna Orji.

However, CSUN couldn't capitalize on its good defense. The Matadors shot 2-18 and 0-8 from three, ultimately ending at five points for the period. The away team headed into the half down by the score of 36-20.

CSUN forced 17 Spartan turnovers, however, it just wasn't the Matadors' night on the offensive end. CSUN shot 28% from the field in the defeat.

SOLID WEEK FROM THE FRESHMAN
Karsen Marshall had a break out game in just 10 minutes played against Fresno State. The freshman from Wildomar had a career-high 12 points, all scored from three-point land. She ended up knocking four out of six shots from deep.

Marshall also did a little bit of everything in the bout against San Jose State. She had seven points, three rebounds and two assists in a career high 17 minutes of action.

HOME SWEET HOME
CSUN returns back to Premier America Credit Union for the first time since opening night, Nov. 4th against La Sierra. Last time the Matadors were back home, they beat the Golden Eagles 70-56 in Head Coach Angie Ned's CSUN debut. A 42-point second half lifted the home team to victory. Senior Erica Adams notched her first career double-double in the win.

RACKING UP THE BOARDS
CSUN currently has 189 rebounds on the young campaign. The Matadors average 37.8 boards a game. Yves Cox (5.8) and Adams (5.4) are leading the squad. Ten players are averaging at least two rebounds per game.

SCOUTING PEPPERDINE
The Waves are fresh out of an overtime victory against fellow Big West team, UC Riverside, who just happens to be CSUN's first Big West opponent on Dec. 5. Pepperdine won that bout, 55-52 against the Highlanders.

Pepperdine returns eight on the 12-person roster, seven of whom are seniors. The Waves have lost games against UC Irvine and UCLA while picking up wins against Cal State Fullerton, Cal Baptist and UC Riverside.

The leading scorer for the Waves on the season is Ornela Muca, with 13.2 points per game. Muca scored a career high 27 points against Head Coach Angie Ned's former team, Cal Baptist on Nov. 16. Muca is also a certified threat behind the arc, she is shooting 61% from there, good enough for fifth best in the country.

CSUN will hope to capitalize on turnovers, as Pepperdine allows 17.4 of those per game.

Series History: The Matadors are losing the series history, 24-4 against the Waves. The two teams have not met in a decade with the last contest coming in the 2014-15 season. That game resulted in a 74-48 victory for CSUN in Northridge.

#GoMatadors

CSUN Hosts Afternoon Matchup Against Pepperdine

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Players Mentioned

Erica Adams

Erika Aspajo

Yves Cox

Karsen Marshall

Nnenna Orji