'Eaters Begin Five-Game Road Stretch at Southern Utah

Friday, December 6

Cedar City, Utah

5:30 PM PT

UC Irvine

Southern Utah

'Eaters Begin Five-Game Road Stretch at Southern Utah

December 04, 2019 | Women's Basketball

UC Irvine (3-5) at
Southern Utah (4-2)
Date: Friday, Dec. 6
Time: 6:30 p.m. (MT) / 5:30 p.m. (PT)
Location: America First Event Center (5,300) - Cedar City, Utah
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Game Notes (PDF)

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine women's basketball team begins a season-long five-game road stretch at Southern Utah on Friday, Dec. 6. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. (MT)/5:30 p.m. (PT) at America First Event Center.

STORYLINES
• UC Irvine will be looking to snap a three-game skid after dropping a 70-61 decision to Portland State Monday at the Bren Events Center.
• It was the Anteaters' first home loss since March 2.
• All 10 'Eaters who played against the Vikings scored at least three points.
• Freshman Jayde Cadee finished with a team and season-high 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc.
• Cadee was the eighth Anteater to reach double figures in scoring this year.
• She was also the team's sixth different leading scorer through eight games.
• Junior Joy Akaegbu-Cleveland pulled down a season-best nine rebounds, including five on the offensive end, against Portland State.
• Junior Haleigh Talbert also matched her career high with six assists, and set a new personal best with seven boards.
• Senior Lauren Saiki leads the 'Eaters with 13.0 points and 6.6 assists per contest.
• Her assist average is currently among the top-10 in all of NCAA Division I.
• In addition, Saiki is seventh in school history with 285 career assists.
• UC Irvine has forced more turnovers than it has committed in every game this year.
• UCI was picked to finish first in the Big West Preseason Coaches Poll and second in the Big West Preseason Media Poll.

WITH A WIN...
• UC Irvine would earn its third-straight victory against Southern Utah, marking its longest winning streak in the all-time series.
• The Anteaters would improve to 3-0 against the Thunderbirds when playing in Cedar City, Utah.
• The 'Eaters would pick up their first true road win since Feb. 21, snapping a four-game road losing streak in the process.

SCOUTING THE THUNDERBIRDS
Southern Utah improved to 4-2 with a 72-58 win over Oral Roberts on Tuesday, Dec. 3. Rebecca Cardenas is tops on the squad with 16.8 points and 4.8 assists per game. Harley Hansen (11.5 ppg) is also averaging double figures in scoring, while Ashley Larsen leads the Thunderbirds in rebounding (6.8 rpg).

SERIES RECORD
UC Irvine leads in its all-time series with Southern Utah, 4-1. The Anteaters have prevailed in each of the last two meetings. On Nov. 20, 2018, the 'Eaters defeated the Thunderbirds, 75-58, in Irvine. Lauren Saiki scored a team-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting. In 2017, Tahlia Garza finished with 13 points (6-7 FG) and six rebounds to lead UCI to a 71-64 victory in Cedar City, Utah.

HELPING HAND
Senior Lauren Saiki (Monterey Park, Calif.) has been the Anteaters' assists leader in 42 of her 71 career games played. Heading into Friday's contest, Saiki has dished out a team-best 53 helpers. Her 6.6 apg rank among the top-10 in the nation. Last year, Saiki had two double-figure assist performances, including a career-high 13 dimes vs. Indiana State (Nov. 24, 2018). In two-plus seasons at UCI, Saiki has amassed 285 career assists, putting her at No. 7 in program history.

THE LO-DOWN
Saiki has reached double figures in scoring in six of the Anteaters' eight games with a season-high 20 points coming in a win over Loyola Marymount. She is currently tops among UCI's active players with 13.0 points per outing. Saiki was named to both the Kansas City Site Preseason WNIT Consolation All-Tournament Team and the Pioneer Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team.

HEATING UP
After recording just five points in the first five games of the year, junior Dani Guglielmo has started to heat up, averaging 10.7 points over the last three contests. She had her first career back-to-back double-figure scoring performances at the Pioneer Thanksgiving Classic (Nov. 29-30), recording a season-high 12 points at Denver before matching that total to lead the team against North Alabama. Guglielmo also established season highs in rebounds (5) and assists (3) last weekend.

BALANCED ATTACK
Eight 'Eaters have reached double figures in scoring this year. Lauren Saiki has put up 10+ points in six of eight games, and Jordan Sanders has done it four times. Alexus Seaton, Sophia Locandro, Dani Guglielmo and Chloe Webb also have multiple double-digit outings, while Haleigh Talbert and Jayde Cadee round out the group. UC Irvine has had a different leading scorer in six of its first eight games.

ACCESS DENIED
UC Irvine, which ranked 22nd in the nation in turnovers forced last year, has continued to put the defensive pressure on its opponents in 2019-20. The Anteaters have forced 17.6 turnovers per game with a season-high 29 against Loyola Marymount. The 'Eaters have also registered 4.6 blocks per outing, which is tops in the Big West and 45th in all of NCAA Division I. They had a season-high 10 blocked shots at Denver, marking the first time they reached double digits in that category since Jan. 27, 2010.

HOME COOKING
Since the start of the 2017-18 campaign, UC Irvine is 24-9 (.727) at the Bren Events Center. The 24 home victories in two-plus seasons are more than the Anteaters' combined total from the previous five years.

OPENING NIGHT
The 'Eaters started the 2019-20 campaign with a 79-77 win over San José State on Nov. 5. They are now 3-1 in season openers in the Tamara Inoue era. In 2018-19, UCI defeated Life Pacific College (NAIA), 105-31. The 74-point triumph tied the second-largest margin of victory in program history. In 2017-18, the Anteaters won in more dramatic fashion, erasing a 13-point deficit in the final minutes with a half-court shot at the buzzer capping the rally for an 87-84 victory over Utah State.

CAREER DAY
Junior Alexus Seaton, who averaged 3.5 ppg and 2.5 rpg last year, made a statement in the season-opening win over San José State, establishing career highs in points (17), rebounds (7) and assists (5). For the first time as an 'Eater, the Arlington, Texas, native led the team in scoring. Seaton currently sits at 9.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

FRESHMAN IMPACT
The Anteaters' active freshmen have provided quality minutes early in their careers. Sophia Locandro has three double-figure scoring games with a season-best 16 points (7-8 FG) at Denver. She leads the team with a 60.0 field goal percentage. Chloe Webb also had a season-high 13 points and six boards in 13 minutes against Portland State (Nov. 16), and finished with 11 points vs. North Alabama. Jayde Cadee has come on strong lately, with a season-best 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc in the second meeting with the Vikings (Dec. 2). Kayla Williams and redshirt freshman Melodie Kapinga have missed the first eight games due to injury.

COUNTDOWN TO 1,000
Junior Jordan Sanders has 967 career points, putting her just 33 away from becoming the 15th player to join UCI women's basketball's 1,000-point club. If she accomplishes the feat this year, she would be only the sixth individual in program history to reach 1,000 points in her third season.

WINNING WAYS
In 2018-19, UC Irvine recorded the third 20-win season in program history, and first in 34 years. The 'Eaters have increased their win total in each of Tamara Inoue's three seasons as head coach. They upped their number of victories by one in 2016-17, 12 in 2017-18 and two in 2018-19.

THE TURNAROUND
The Anteaters made their biggest jump in 2017-18 with their highest win total (18) and first postseason appearance since 1994-95. They saw a 12.5-game improvement from 2016-17, which marked the second-best turnaround in all of NCAA Division I.

PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
For the first time in program history, the Anteaters were picked to finish first in the Big West Preseason Coaches Poll. They received six of the nine first-place votes to top the list with 77 points. Three-time defending regular season champion UC Davis was a close second with 70 points (two first-place votes). UC Riverside collected the final first-place nod and came in third with 60 points. Jordan Sanders was selected to the preseason all-conference team for the second year in a row. Sanders and Lauren Saiki also made the media's Preseason All-Big West Team.

UP NEXT
UC Irvine will have an eight-day layoff for final exams before heading to the Pacific Northwest for three games. The Anteaters open the trip at Pac-12 member Washington State on Sunday, Dec. 15. They will then make their way to Seattle for the Husky Classic where they are matched up against Vanderbilt (Dec. 20) and San Francisco (Dec. 21).