UC Irvine (0-1) at
Loyola Marymount (0-1)
Date: Thursday, Dec. 3
Time: 6 p.m. (PST)
Location: Gersten Pavilion (4,156) - Los Angeles, Calif.
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UC Irvine Game Notes

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine women's basketball is ready to hit the road in search of its first win of the season. The Anteaters will make the short drive to Los Angeles to square off against Loyola Marymount on Thursday, Dec. 3. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. at Gersten Pavilion.
 
STORYLINES
• UC Irvine suffered its first season-opening loss since 2016-17 after falling to California Baptist on Saturday, Nov. 28.
• Sophomore Sophia Locandro, a 2020 All-Big West selection, registered her 16th career double-figure scoring game.
• Locandro notched 11 points, six rebounds and two blocks against the Lancers.
• Redshirt freshman Kayla Williams also finished with 11 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in her 'Eater debut.
• Williams played 35 minutes in her first official competition in 21 months.
• Sophomore Jayde Cadee had her 13th career game with multiple 3-pointers made vs. CBU.
• Last year, Cadee had a team-leading 59 triples, which ranks fifth in single-season school history.
• The Anteaters' three bigs all pulled down at least five rebounds against the Lancers.
• Senior Tahlia Garza led the way with seven boards, while Locandro finished with six and sophomore Melodie Kapinga had five.
• UCI returns over 70% of its scoring, rebounding, steals and blocks from a year ago.
• The 'Eaters welcome back 10 players from a 2019-20 squad that finished second in the Big West. 
• UC Irvine has five seniors who have combined to play 391 career games.
• Haleigh Talbert leads the group with 2,065 minutes played (95 games).
• She averaged a career-best 9.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per outing as a junior.
• Since 2017-18, the Anteaters are averaging 17 wins per season.
 
WITH A WIN...
• UC Irvine will earn its second-straight victory against LMU and improve to 13-8 in the all-time series.
• Dating back to last year, the 'Eaters will extend their road win streak to three games.

SCOUTING THE LIONS
Loyola Marymount (0-1) fell at USC, 85-55, in its season opener last Wednesday, Nov. 25. Ciera Ellington and Meghan Mandel led four Lions in double figures with 13 points each. Nicole Rodriguez also pulled down a team-leading nine rebounds. LMU, which returns eight letterwinners from a 2019-20 squad that went 7-25 overall, was picked to finish eighth in the West Coast Conference Preseason Poll.
 
SERIES RECORD
UC Irvine leads in its all-time series with Loyola Marymount, 12-8. The Anteaters have won four of the last six, including an 80-65 victory in the most recent meeting that took place at the Bren Events Center on Nov. 19, 2019.
 
The 'Eaters are 82-105 all-time against current members of the West Coast Conference, and are 4-3 against WCC foes in head coach Tamara Inoue's tenure.
 
NEW LOOK SCHEDULE
In an effort to reduce travel and emphasize the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and staff in the middle of an ongoing pandemic, the Big West altered its conference schedule so that teams will play the same opponent on consecutive days at one site. Each team has a bye week built into the 11-week schedule, but games will not be rescheduled should a team need to quarantine during the season.
 
LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine was a little rusty on the offensive end in its season opener, dropping a 72-55 decision to California Baptist on Saturday, Nov. 28. The 'Eaters, who held a 71-to-65 advantage in field goal attempts had trouble finding their rhythm as they shot 24% from the floor.
 
Sophia Locandro and Kayla Williams tied for the team lead with 11 points each. Locandro added six rebounds and two blocks, while Williams had five boards, two assists and two steals. Jayde Cadee finished with nine points and five rebounds, and Haleigh Talbert chipped in seven points, four boards, two assists and two steals. Tahlia Garza pulled down a team-leading seven rebounds, and Melodie Kapinga also corralled five boards.
 
OPENING NIGHT
UC Irvine fell in its season opener for just the second time in fifth-year head coach Tamara Inoue's tenure. Overall, UCI dropped to 14-33 in season openers and 7-16 when playing those games at home.
 
TEAM CAPTAINS
Seniors Haleigh Talbert, Dani Guglielmo and Tahlia Garza have been selected as team captains for the 2020-21 season. The trio was part of Inoue's first recruiting class and have played an integral role in the program's turnaround. As freshmen in 2017-18, they helped the Anteaters to a remarkable 13-win improvement, and in 2018-19, they were key contributors in UCI's first 20-win season in 34 years.
 
SPLASH SISTERS
Four 'Eaters made at least 40 triples last season, and three of them are back this year. Jayde Cadee knocked down a team-leading 59 threes, while Haleigh Talbert finished with 47 and Dani Guglielmo had 40. Cadee and Guglielmo both connected from long distance twice in the season opener vs. California Baptist.
 
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
UC Irvine was picked to finish second in both the Big West Preseason Coaches and Media Poll. The 'Eaters (101 points) received two first-place votes from the league's 11 head coaches to come in behind four-time defending regular-season champion UC Davis. The Aggies were tabbed the preseason favorite with six first-place votes and 114 total points. UC Santa Barbara was third, while Cal Poly, which collected two first-place nods, was fourth. This is the third year in a row the Anteaters were selected among the top-three in the Big West Preseason Polls.
 
WINNING WAYS
Over the last three years, the 'Eaters are averaging 17 wins per season. Their 51 total victories during that span is the program's best three-year stretch since 1983-86.
 
HOME COOKING
Since 2017-18, UC Irvine is 30-13 (.698) at the Bren Events Center. The 30 home victories in three seasons are more than UCI's combined total from the previous five campaigns.

RECORD WATCH
Senior Tahlia Garza ranks seventh in program history with 86 blocks. She is 14 away from passing Chelsea Mackey and becoming the sixth Anteater to record 100 career blocks. Senior Haleigh Talbert sits just outside UCI's all-time top-10 with 87 career 3-pointers made and 113 steals. She needs 20 more threes and 37 steals to etch her name in the record books.
 
SCORING MACHINE
Sophia Locandro, who is UC Irvine's top returning scorer, kept that title in the 2020-21 opener as she tied for the team lead with 11 points vs. California Baptist. It was her 16th career double-figure scoring game. The Australia native also finished with six rebounds, two blocks and one steal against the Lancers. Locandro was a 2020 All-Big West honorable mention selection, and was named to the conference's all-freshman team after averaging 11.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game in her debut season.
 
HEART OVER HEIGHT
Senior Haleigh Talbert (Euless, Texas) has been one of the Anteaters' most consistent all-around players over the last few years, and the 5-foot-4 guard continued to put up solid numbers in the season opener with seven points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block. Talbert is coming off her best collegiate campaign in which she had 14 double-figure scoring games and averaged a career-high 9.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 steals.
 
SEASON DEBUTS
Redshirt freshman Kayla Williams logged 35 minutes in the season opener vs. California Baptist. It was her first collegiate game and first official competition since her high school career ended on Feb. 27, 2019. The 5-foot-7 point guard, who sat out last season with a lower leg injury, tied for the team lead with 11 points to go along with four rebounds, two assists and two steals in her Anteater debut.
 
Freshman Victoria Baker also made her collegiate debut last Saturday, finishing with six points, three rebounds and two steals in 25 minutes.
 
SHOOTERS TOUCH
Sophomore Jayde Cadee (Macleod, Victoria, Australia)  finished with a team-best 59 3-pointers last year, which ranks fifth in single-season program history. She has knocked down multiple threes in a game 13 times in her young career. Cadee tied UCI's single-game record with eight triples at Long Beach State on Feb. 20, 2020.