UC Irvine Kicks Off Season At Northern Arizona; Grand Canyon
November 10, 2014 | Women's Basketball
THIS WEEK
Non-Conference Games
UC Irvine at Northern Arizona · Friday, Nov. 14 · 4:30 p.m. PST · Rolle Activity Center
Audio Live Stats
UC Irvine at Grand Canyon · Sunday, Nov. 16 · 1:00 p.m. PST · GCU Arena
Audio
QUICK HITS
UC Irvine will open the 2014-15 season on the road, traveling to Northern Arizona Friday (Nov. 14) for a 4:30 p.m. PST game in the Rolle Activity Center. The Anteaters then continue on to Grand Canyon Sunday (Nov. 16) for a 1:00 p.m. tip at Grand Canyon University Arena.
UCI is 11-28 in season opening contests. UCI beat South Dakota, 68-64 at the Bren Center last year.
The Anteaters last opening day win on the road was Nov. 17, 2001 when the Anteaters won at San Francisco, 59-48.
UCI leads NAU in the series records, 2-1. In the last meeting, the Anteaters beat the Lumberjacks 59-50 on Nov. 21, 1999 in Flagstaff.
NAU returns seven letterwinners, including returning starters - seniors Raven Anderson and Erikka Banks and sophomores Brittani Lusain and Rene Coggins. Banks was the team's leading returning scorer and rebounder a year ago at 13.5 points and 7.7 rebounds, while Lusain led the 'Jacks with 4.9 assists per game.
NAU was 9-20 last season and finished ninth in the Big Sky Conference with a 6-14 conference mark.
The Lumberjacks led the conference in field goal percentage at 44.7 percent and was the fourth-highest scoring team with 72.8 points per game but finished 10th in opponent scoring average and opponent field goal percentage.
This will be the first meeting with Grand Canyon.
Last season, its first in NCAA Division I, the Antelopes finished 21-9 and played in the Women's Basketball Invitational. GCU finished third in the WAC with a 10-6 mark.
The Antelopes graduated over 85 percent of last year's scoring and nearly 80 percent of the minutes played.
Grand Canyon was picked sixth in the coaches poll and fifth in the media poll, while sophomore guard August Touchard was selected to the Preseason all-WAC Second Team in the media poll. Touchard averaged 4.6 points and 21.8 minutes per game last year.
UCI will once again play a majority of its non-conference schedule on the road, playing 10 of its 15 non-league games away from Irvine.
UCI will host Pepperdine in the home opener on Nov. 19 at 7:00 p.m. at the Bren.
The Anteaters were picked to finish seventh in the annual Big West media poll.
The Anteaters defeated Cal Lutheran, 77-63 and Chapman, 86-58 in exhibition games at the Bren Events Center last week.
UCI averaged 81.5 points over those two games and averaged 42.5 points in the second half alone.
The Anteaters shot .475 (56-118) from the field, knocking down 15 three-pointers.
Over two exhibition games, redshirt frehman Jenny Dee went 11-19 from the field, including 9-14 from beyond the arc. She led the squad versus Cal Lutheran with 15 points and 17 against Chapman.
Redshirt sophomore Mokun Fajemisin had 23 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks over the two exhibition contests.
Shereen Sutherland, a transfer from Arizona, totaled 25 points and 14 rebounds over the two exhibitions.
Former Anteater Angie Ned (2003-07) joins the staff this year as the Director of Basketball Operations. She was teammates with assistant coaches Lauren Bowie (2002-06) and Annie Mai (2004-08).
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