CSUN Earns Second Consecutive Big West Victory, 58-53 at UC Riverside

Saturday, February 7

Riverside, CA

4:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

8-14,4-9Big West

UC Riverside

7-16,5-8Big West

CSUN

UC Riverside

Photo by: Bella A Enriquez

CSUN Earns Second Consecutive Big West Victory, 58-53 at UC Riverside

2/7/2026 7:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

RIVERSIDE, Calif - The CSUN women's basketball team (8-14, 4-9 Big West) was victorious over the UC Riverside Highlanders (7-16, 5-8 Big West), 58-53 at SRC Arena on Saturday afternoon. Rita Nazario led the Matadors with 16 points, while Jite Gbemuotor had 13 points and 13 rebounds, her second consecutive double-double and fifth of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The first half was tightly contested by both teams. UCR jumped out to an early 6-2 lead with five points coming from their leading scorer, Hannah Wickstrom. CSUN responded with a mini 5-2 run of its own with a Gbemuotor layup and Nazario shot from distance to make it an 8-7 UCR lead with 3:38 left to play in the first. The teams would trade baskets as the Highlanders were up by one point at 12-11 through the game's first 10 minutes.

To begin the second quarter, CSUN went on a sizeable 12-3 run, capped off by a Saray White floating jump shot to give the Matadors a 23-15 lead with 4:09 left to play in the half. Six different players contributed to the run for CSUN. UCR quickly answered back with a 10-0 run of its own to regain the lead at 25-23 with 1:22 remaining. The Highlanders would end up taking a 27-25 lead into the intermission.

SECOND HALF
UCR opened the third quarter on a 7-2 run, capped off by a Kaylani Polk pull-up jumper to extend the Highlander lead to seven at 34-27 with 7:50 remaining in the third. Morgan Edwards answered back with a floater to cut the lead to five with 7:17 remaining. The Highlanders then went on a mini 7-4 run to push their lead to eight at 41-33 with 3:40 left to go in the period. CSUN responded with a 12-3 run which included two shots from downtown from Nazario, including one with five seconds left to go, putting CSUN back in front 45-44 entering the fourth quarter.

To begin the fourth, both teams weren't giving an inch. After UCR regained the lead 51-49 with 5:32 left to play, Nazario knocked down her fourth three-point bucket, grabbing the lead right back for the Matadors at 52-51 with 5:17 left to go. Defense was the name of the game moving forward, with neither team scoring over the next three-plus minutes.

Wickstrom swished two free-throws to give UCR the lead once again at 53-52 with 2:12 left to play. White answered with two made free-throws of her own to give CSUN the lead for good. The Matador defense was strong to close out the game, forcing a turnover and a missed layup with 48 seconds left to go. CSUN had the ball up one with 44 seconds left when Amya Moody missed a three-point jumper, but Mariona Cos-Morales had a put-back layup to make it 56-53 with 19 seconds left to play. Looking to tie the game, UCR would turn the ball over and Nazario sunk two free-throws to seal the win.

NOTES OF THE GAME

With the win, CSUN improved to 4-9 in Big West play. Good for eighth in the conference.
CSUN had 30 points in the paint to UCR's 16.
CSUN had 10 steals.
Nazario made four of CSUN's six shots from behind-the-arc.
White and Gbemuotor have scored in double-figures in back-to-back games.
Gbemuotor also registered three blocks.
Gbemuotor, White, and Cos-Morales all played over 30 minutes.

UP NEXT
CSUN's next contest comes a week from today on Saturday, February 14 when it travels to Hawai'i for the final Big West regular season contest between the two schools. Tip-off is slated for 8:00 p.m. PT and will be streamed live on ESPN+.