UC Irvine (5-4) at
Arizona State (6-5)
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 21
Time: 11 a.m. (PST)
Location: Desert Financial Arena (14,198) - Tempe, Ariz.
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UC Irvine (5-4) at
Grand Canyon (6-4)
Date: Thursday, Dec. 23
Time: 11 a.m. (PST)
Location: GCU Arena (7,000) - Phoenix, Ariz.
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UC Irvine Game Notes

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine will travel to Arizona this week to close out its non-conference slate. The Anteaters start the two-game road trip at Arizona State on Tuesday, Dec. 21, before heading to Grand Canyon on Thursday, Dec. 23. Both contests will tip-off at 12 p.m. (MT)/11 a.m. (PT).
 
STORYLINES
• The 'Eaters picked up their first win away from home with a 74-66 victory over San José State last Wednesday (Dec. 15).
• Sophia Locandro led the way with 18 points (8-11 FG) in 19 minutes.
• UCI is making its first trip to Arizona since 2018 when it took part in the GCU Thanksgiving Classic.
• The Anteaters are 4-6 when playing in the Grand Canyon State.
• Kayla Williams has a season-long streak of seven double-figure scoring games.
• On the year, Williams is averaging a team-best 13.1 ppg.
• She is also tops on the squad in FG made (41), 3FG made (17), assists (35) and steals (22).
• Chloe Webb has reached double digits in scoring in each of the last three contests.
• Webb is coming off her second double-double of the season with 11 points/10 rebounds against SJSU.
• She is averaging 10.2 points and a team-leading 6.6 rebounds per game.
• Sophia Locandro (11) and Tara Dusharm (9) have combined for over half of UCI's 38 blocks.

SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS
Arizona State (6-5) is coming off a road split, falling at Creighton, 69-62, before defeating San Diego, 79-60. Jade Loville leads the Sun Devils with 14.7 points per outing, while Mael Gilles is also averaging 10.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.1 steals per contest. Charli Turner Thorne is in her 25th year as ASU's head coach. She has led the program to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, including three trips to the Sweet 16 and two to the Elite Eight.
 
SERIES RECORD
UC Irvine trails in its all-time series with Arizona State, 4-0. Tuesday will mark the first meeting between the two teams in 13 years.
 
SCOUTING THE LOPES
Grand Canyon (6-4) returns home after a four-game road trip that ended at the South Padre Island Classic in Texas this past weekend. The Lopes fell to Liberty, 76-61, but bounced back to upend UTSA, 62-52. Jay McChristine is tops on the squad with 11.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per outing. GCU leads the nation in steals per game (15.2), while also ranking fourth in turnovers forced (25.2/gm) and eighth in turnover margin (8.3).
 
SERIES RECORD
UC Irvine and Grand Canyon are tied in their all-time series, 1-1. The Anteaters won on the road, 54-53, on Nov. 16, 2014, and the Lopes returned the favor the next year, defeating UCI, 58-53, in Irvine (Dec. 14, 2015).
 
LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine bounced back from a slow start to defeat San José State, 74-66, last Wednesday at Kaiser Permanente Arena. The Anteaters went 2-for-24 from the field in the first quarter, but trailed by only two at the half. They regrouped at the break, scoring 51 points on 45% shooting over the final 20 minutes. Sophia Locandro, who was 8-for-11 from the floor, scored 14 of her season-high 18 points in the fourth frame. Naomi Hunt added 15 points (4-9 3FG), while Kayla Williams finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Chloe Webb recorded her second double-double of the year with 11 points and 10 boards.
 
BENCH PRODUCTION
UCI has outscored its opponents, 249-115, in bench points. All 15 Anteaters have made their way into the scoring column, nine have at least one double-figure scoring game, and eight are averaging at least 4.0 points per outing.
 
HOME & AWAY
After playing five of their six games in the month of November within the friendly confines of the Bren Events Center, the 'Eaters hit the road for four of their final five non-conference contests. UCI is 4-2 at home, 0-2 in true road games, and 1-0 in neutral-site contests. Since 2017-18, UC Irvine is 40-18 (.690) at the Bren Events Center.
 
RECORD WATCH
With 11 blocks this season, Sophia Locandro has increased her career total to 69, which puts her in sole possession of 10th all-time at UC Irvine, and one away from tying Lauren Yadon for ninth. Jayde Cadee is also on the verge of breaking into UCI's all-time top-10 in 3-pointers made with her 104 career triples sitting three behind Lauren Saiki.
 
TURNOVER TALK
The Anteaters have forced 15+ turnovers in six of nine contests (17.0/gm), with a season-high 24 at California Baptist on Nov. 20. Since 2016-17, they have forced 17.9 turnovers per game and have consistently been one of the top teams in the Big West in that category.
 
DOUBLE DIGIT TIDBITS
UCI has had multiple players score in double figures in every game this season. Kayla Williams is tops on the team with seven 10+ point performances, while Chloe Webb is second with six. Williams and Webb have both reached double digits 26 times in their careers, and the 'Eaters are 10-5 when they each score 10+ in the same game.
 
WINNING WAYS
UC Irvine increased its win total in each of head coach Tamara Inoue's first three years at the helm, culminating with the program's third 20-win campaign in 2018-19. In five-plus seasons, including last year's shortened schedule, Inoue already ranks third in program history with 76 victories. The 2021 Big West co-Coach of the Year is 10 wins away from tying Mark Adams (86) for second.
 
THE TURNAROUND
Prior to Inoue's arrival in 2016-17, UC Irvine had two winning seasons in 15 years, but ever since her first campaign with her own recruits in 2017-18, the 'Eaters have been on the rise. That 2017-18 squad put together the second-best turnaround in all of NCAA Division I, posting 18 wins after finishing with just five in 2016-17. The following year, the Anteaters notched the program's first 20-win season since 1985.
 
DOUBLE DUTY
UCI is 4-0 when an Anteater finishes with a double-double this season. Chloe Webb has a team-best two double-doubles, putting up 11 points/10 rebounds vs. SJSU, and 14 points/13 boards against Southern Utah. Melodie Kapinga had the first of the year with 11 points and a career-high 10 rebounds in 13 minutes against Westcliff (Nov. 9), while Naomi Hunt registered 17 points and 12 rebounds vs. Sacramento State.
 
IRON WOMEN
Sophia Locandro and Jayde Cadee are tied for the team lead with 64 consecutive games played. The two Australians have not missed a contest since their arrival in Irvine in 2019-20. Locandro, a 6-foot-3 forward, is the team's active UCI career leader in points (667), rebounds (324) and blocks (69). Cadee, meanwhile, surpassed 100 career 3-pointers made with the first of her three triples at California Baptist on Nov. 20. 
 
SCORING MACHINE
Kayla Williams has reached double figures in scoring in 26 of 32 career games played with six 20+ point performances. She has increased her 2021-22 average to 13.1 ppg after scoring 10+ in each of the last seven outings, including a season-high 20 at California Baptist. Williams also has a streak of 23 consecutive games played with at least one 3-pointer made. She owns a career high of 32 points which she established at Cal Poly on Jan. 23, 2021. 
 
HEATING UP
Chloe Webb is averaging 10.2 points and a team-leading 6.6 rebounds per game. She has reached double figures in scoring six times this season, and pulled down 10+ boards on two occasions. Webb has hit double digits in the points column in each of the last three outings with 16 against San Diego, 13 at USC and 11 vs. SJSU. In those three games, she shot 52% (13-25) from the field and 70% (14-20) from the charity stripe.
 
RECEIVING VOTES
UC Irvine was receiving votes in the first five College Insider Women's Mid-Major Polls (Preseason-Dec. 7), but dropped out last week. The Anteaters were last featured in the mid-major rankings in 2018-19 when they rose to as high as No. 15 in the nation.
 
OPENING NIGHT
For the seventh-straight year, UCI started the campaign at home, and won its fourth opener in the last five seasons with a 114-53 victory over Westcliff on Nov. 9. The 114 points were a program record, breaking the previous mark of 107, which was set back in 1979 and matched in 2018. Of the five 100-point games in school history, four have come in the Tamara Inoue era. The 'Eaters also tied a 39-year old school record with 30 assists against the Warriors.
 
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
UC Irvine was picked to finish second in the Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll. The 'Eaters (88 points) received one first-place vote from the league's 11 head coaches to come in behind five-time defending regular-season champion UC Davis, which was tabbed the preseason favorite with nine first-place votes and 99 total points. This is the fourth year in a row the Anteaters were selected among the top-three in the Big West Preseason Poll.
 
Third-year freshman Kayla Williams was selected to the six-member Preseason All-Big West Team. Last year, Williams was named the Big West Freshman of the Year and earned first-team all-conference honors after averaging 14.4 points, 4.1 assists and 2.6 steals per game.
 
MITTY CONNECTION
True freshmen Hunter Hernandez, Amelia Scharpf and Olivia Williams were all teammates at Archbishop Mitty HS in San Jose. The trio helped the Monarchs to four league championships and three CIF Central Coast Section titles. They also won the 2020 Nor Cal Championship and advanced to the state championship before the game was canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, associate head coach Cecilia Russell-Nava is a Mitty alum, while recent UCI graduates Dani Guglielmo and Tahlia Garza were also Monarchs.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
UC Irvine has three international student-athletes in Jayde Cadee, Sophia Locandro and Déja Lee. Lee, a freshman from Surrey, British Columbia, was one of the top-ranked 2021 prospects in Canada. She competed with the Canadian National Team at the 2021 FIBA U19 Women's World Cup (5th) and the 2019 FIBA U16 Americas Championship (2nd). Cadee and Locandro both hail from Melbourne, Australia, where they won national titles with the Victoria Metro State team. In addition, freshman Olivia Williams, who has dual citizenship, has competed with the New Zealand National Team, winning silver at the 2019 FIBA U17 Women's Oceania Championship.
 
EMPOWERED WOMEN EMPOWER WOMEN
UCI women's basketball has an all-female staff with head coach Tamara Inoue, associate head coach Cecilia Russell-Nava, assistants Jualeah Woods and Cinnamon Lister, and Director of Operations Tyler Ellis. All five played Division I basketball and made it to the NCAA Tournament as a player and/or coach. In addition, Tayyiba Haneef-Park, a three-time Olympian and two-time silver medalist with the U.S. Women's Indoor Volleyball Team, is in her fourth year as the program's Director of Administration.
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine will stay on the road for the start of Big West play as it heads to CSUN (Dec. 30) and UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 1) next week.