THIS WEEK
Big West Conference Games
UC Irvine at UC Riverside · Thursday, Jan. 7 · 5:00 p.m. · SRC Arena
Audio Live Stats ESPN3
Cal Poly at UC Irvine · Saturday, Jan. 9 · 2:00 p.m. · Brve/indexen Events Center
Audio Live Stats Video
QUICK HITS
UCI will open the Big West slate at UC Riverside on Thursday (Jan. 7) at 5:00 p.m in the SRC Arena. The game will be shown on ESPN3.
After six games on the road, UCI will return to the Bren Center to take on Cal Poly Saturday (Jan. 9) at 2:00 p.m.
UCI trails UC Riverside 32-17 in the series records.
The last time the Anteaters and Highlanders met, Mokun Fajemisin had a career-high 21 points to lift UCI to a 76-72 overtime victory on Valentine's Day at the Bren Center. UC Irvine could not hold on to a second half lead and dropped a 71-58 contest in Riverside a year ago. The Anteaters were out-scored 22-7 in the final eight minutes of that contest.
The Highlanders are 7-7 overall. Brittany Crain and Rejane Verin each recorded 20-point, 10-rebound double doubles in a 85-67 victory over Grand Canyon last Saturday.
Cal Poly holds a 32-18 advantage in the series records.
The Mustangs enter the week 7-6 overall and will visit UC Santa Barbara Thursday before heading to the Bren. Cal Poly beat Sacramento State 97-72 last week.
Last season, UCI had its best offensive output in an 84-75 victory against Cal Poly at the Bren Center. Irene Chavez had a season-high 24 points and Raelyn Chueng-Sutton posted a career-best 20 points in the victory. The Mustangs won the first contest last year 74-58.
The Anteaters are 3-11 overall and looking to snap a season-long six game losing streak.
UCI is 1-7 on the road this season, winning its lone contest away from Irvine at Southern Utah (63-58).
Last week, UCI lost to USC (75-56) Monday and CSU Bakersfield (65-39) on Sunday. The Anteaters played both games without leading scorer Mokun Fajemisin who was sidelined with a leg injury. The 39 points against the Roadrunners were a season low.
In both games last week UCI was led by the backcourt of Raelyn Cheung-Sutton and Irene Chavez. Cheung-Sutton paced the squad with 11 points versus USC and 10 against the Roadrunners. Chavez had 10 points versus the Women of Troy plus a career-high seven assists then eight points and five rebounds against Bakersfield.
The Anteaters led the Women of Troy after the first quarter (16-13) and trailed by just one (30-29) at the half. USC would out-score UCI 45-27 in the second half to pull away.
Raelyn Cheung-Sutton is ranked 24th in the nation and leads the Big West in assists per game (5.9). She ranks 16th nationally with 82 assists. The senior dished a career-high 12 assists against Nevada and Southern Utah which is the most in the Big West this season and is tied for 18th most in the country this year.
Cheung-Sutton, who is the only Anteater to start in every game this season, is fourth on the team in scoring at 7.9 points per outing. She ranks fifth in the league in assist/turnover ratio (1.5).
Mokun Fajemisin leads the Big West in blocked shots (1.82) and is third in rebounding (8.3). The forward is second in defensive rebounds with a 6.2 mark. She leads the team averaging 9.0 points per game. The junior was an All-Big West preseason pick.
Shereen Sutherland is second in scoring (8.2) and rebounding (5.7). She recorded 17 points three times this season, which is the most points scored by an Anteater this season.
Irene Chavez has been a consistent contributor recently, averaging 9.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists over the last four games. The junior is tied with Sutherland in scoring with an 8.2 average and leads the squad with 14 three-pointers.
Forward Chloe Kellum is making the most of her playing time scoring 31 points in 52 minutes over the last four games. The junior had a career-high 16 points in 12 minutes of action versus Sacramento State.
Forward Mckenzie Piper has started 13 of 14 games and is averaging 6.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
The Anteaters have pulled down the most rebounds in the Big West with 541. They are third in the league in rebound average with a 38.6 mark.
