Cal State Fullerton (8-10, 3-6 Big West) at
UC Irvine (15-3, 7-0 Big West)
Date: Thursday, Jan. 26
Time: 7 p.m. (PST)
Location: Bren Events Center (5,000) - Irvine, Calif.
* UC Irvine Athletics is utilizing mobile ticketing and a clear bag policy.

UC Irvine (15-3, 7-0 Big West) at
CSUN (4-15, 3-6 Big West)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 28
Time: 2 p.m. (PST)
Location: Premier America Credit Union Arena (2,400) - Northridge, Calif.

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine women's basketball will be looking to complete a pair of regular-season sweeps this week, starting on Thursday, Jan. 26, when it welcomes Cal State Fullerton to the Bren Events Center for a 7 p.m. showdown. The Anteaters then make their way to CSUN on Saturday, Jan. 28, with tip-off set for 2 p.m. at Premier America Credit Union Arena.
 
STARTING FIVE: STORYLINES
• UC Irvine is out to its best conference start at 7-0. The Anteaters are the only undefeated team in Big West play as they sit two games ahead of UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State who are tied for second at 6-2. Their current nine-game win streak is tied for the longest in school history.
 
• The 'Eaters have continued a dominant run in conference action as they have lost only eight Big West regular-season games in the last two-plus years. Since 2020-21, they have put up a league-best 32 regular-season conference victories and an .800 win percentage.
 
• UCI continued its ascent up the College Insider Women's Mid-Major Top 25, climbing three spots to No. 13 in this week's poll. It is the highest ranking in program history.
 
• As of Jan. 25, the Anteaters rank eighth in the nation in scoring defense. They have held 14 of their 18 opponents to 60 points or less and are 12-2 in those contests. UC Irvine also has four outings with fewer than 40 points allowed, including two in Big West action as it limited UC Davis to 38 and Cal State Fullerton to 39.
 
• Sophomore Hunter Hernandez was named the Big West Player of the Week on Jan. 23. She was recognized after averaging 16.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in UCI's big road wins at UC Santa Barbara and at Hawai'i.

SCOUTING THE TITANS
Cal State Fullerton (8-10, 3-6 Big West) split a pair of home games last week, falling to Long Beach State, 70-42, before defeating CSUN, 70-67. Fujika Nimmo leads the Titans and ranks second in The Big West with 15.3 points per contest. Una Jovanovic is also averaging 14.2 ppg, while Ashlee Lewis has registered a team-best 6.1 rebounds per outing.
 
SERIES RECORD
UC Irvine leads in its all-time series with Cal State Fullerton, 48-39. This will be their second meeting in two weeks as UCI claimed a 57-39 victory in Fullerton on Jan. 11. It was the Anteaters' eighth-straight win in the series. Since head coach Tamara Inoue's first year at the helm in 2016-17, the 'Eaters are 12-2 against Cal State Fullerton.
 
SCOUTING THE MATADORS
After winning its first three conference games, CSUN (4-15, 3-6 Big West) has lost six in a row, most recently falling to UC Santa Barbara, 70-45, and Cal State Fullerton, 70-67. Tess Amundsen has paced the Matadors with 14.3 points per outing. Amundsen, who led all of NCAA Division I in 3FG percentage last year, is shooting 48% (33-69) from beyond the arc. Jordyn Jackson is also averaging 12.6 points and a team-best 3.2 assists per contest.
 
SERIES RECORD
UC Irvine trails in its all-time series with CSUN, 32-28. The Anteaters will be looking for their first regular-season series sweep over the Matadors since 2014 after defeating CSUN, 69-62, at the Bren Events Center on Jan. 14. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine closed out a tough road trip with a gutsy 71-67 overtime win at Hawai'i last Thursday, Jan. 19. Despite losing starter Olivia Williams to an injury late in the first period, UCI kept its composure and stayed out front until the Rainbow Wahine used a 17-7 fourth-quarter run for their first lead of the night with two minutes left in regulation. The Anteaters responded three seconds later and were up late, but a whistle with 0.6 ticks on the clock put UH at the line where it made both to send the game to overtime. The 'Eaters scored the first six points in the extra period and got a clutch three from Amelia Scharpf to pull out the victory. Hunter Hernandez had a game-high 19 points to go along with seven rebounds. Diaba Konate added 14 points, three assists and two steals, while Scharpf registered a career-best 13 points and five boards. Nevaeh Parkinson also had 11 points/7 rebounds.

LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
The Anteaters are first in The Big West standings with their 7-0 record sitting two games ahead of UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State. They are the only school to remain unbeaten in conference play. Over the last two-plus seasons, no team has been better in Big West regular-season games than UC Irvine. The 'Eaters are coming off back-to-back four-loss campaigns, combining for a 32-8 (.800) league record since 2020-21. They have won 11-straight regular-season conference contests with their last loss coming at UH on Feb. 19, 2022.
 
IN THE RANKINGS
UCI moved up three spots to No. 13 in the latest College Insider Women's Mid-Major Top 25. That is the highest ranking in program history, beating out the previous best of No. 15 during the 2018-19 season. The Anteaters have been ranked since Dec. 27, and were receiving votes for the five weeks prior to that.
 
TENACIOUS D
The 'Eaters are eighth in all of NCAA Division I in scoring defense with their 52.6 points allowed per game coming in behind No. 1 South Carolina, Norfolk State, Campbell, No. 16 Duke, USC, No. 4 LSU and Holy Cross. The Anteaters have held 14 of their 18 opponents to 60 points or less. Their season-high in points allowed was 67 in last week's overtime win at Hawai'i. UCI also ranks 18th in the nation in steals (11.2 spg) and 24th in turnovers forced (20.8/gm).
 
FROM THE LINE
UC Irvine (76.0%) ranks second in The Big West in free throw percentage behind only Cal State Fullerton (76.2%). The Anteaters have had some of their best performances at the charity stripe in conference games as they were 8-for-8 against CSU Bakersfield and at Long Beach State, while they made 16-of-17 at UC Santa Barbara last Monday. Individually, Diaba Konate is tops on the squad and in The Big West with a 91.7% clip.
 
ATTENDANCE RECORDS
UC Irvine has set two of the program's top-eight attendance records this season. On Dec. 14, the Anteaters hosted Kids Day where they brought in eight local elementary schools for their sixth-best attendance mark of 1,101. Against UC Davis (Jan. 5), the 'Eaters also welcomed 1,093 fans to the Bren Events Center. It is the first time since 2011 that UCI women's basketball has seen a home crowd of over 1,000.
 
HOME COOKING
Since 2017-18, UC Irvine is 55-20 (.733) at the Bren Events Center. The Anteaters are a perfect 7-0 at home this year and have won 13 consecutive games at the Bren dating back to last season.
 
100 AND COUNTING
Seventh-year head coach Tamara Inoue earned her 100th career win in the non-conference finale against Grand Canyon on Dec. 21. Inoue is the second coach in program history to reach the century mark as her 107 victories rank second all-time behind only Dean Andrea (158), who spent 13 years at the helm from 1978-1991. Inoue, the 2021 co-Big West Coach of the Year has led the 'Eaters to two of the program's three national postseason tournaments and two of their four 20-win campaigns.
 
BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Hunter Hernandez earned her first career Big West Player of the Week award on Jan. 23. She was recognized for her performance in a tough road trip where she averaged 16.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in wins at UC Santa Barbara and at Hawai'i. On the season, Hernandez has eight double-figure scoring games with five coming in conference play, including each of the last four. In UCI's 7-0 league start, the 5-foot-9 guard has led the way with 12.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 3.4 apg and 1.1 spg.
 
SEEING DOUBLE
Hunter Hernandez has a pair of double-doubles and 20-point games this season. In her first start of the year on Dec. 14, Hernandez finished with career-highs of 20 points and 10 rebounds against Westcliff. Three days later, she matched that point total in a 72-57 win over Dartmouth. Hernandez added 13 points and 10 boards in the non-conference finale vs. Grand Canyon.
 
STARTING LINE
UC Irvine is 11-1 overall, and 9-0 this season, when sophomore Déja Lee is in the starting lineup. On Jan. 5, she stepped seamlessly back into the first five as she registered career highs of 22 points, eight rebounds and five steals to lift UCI to a 67-38 win over UC Davis. The 5-foot-9 point guard also had 12 points against Seattle U in her first start of the year on Nov. 19, 11 points and a career-best six assists in a start vs. Westcliff and 11 points in a start vs. CSUN. In the season opener, Lee came off the bench to lead all players with 16 points (7-9 FG), eight boards, five dimes and no turnovers against Whittier.
 
GIVE AND TAKE
Junior transfer Diaba Konate leads the team and ranks among the top-four in The Big West in both assists (3.7 apg) and steals (2.5 spg) per game. Konate has dished out  3+ dimes in 12 of her 15 outings with a season-high seven coming vs. LIU on Nov. 25. She has also recorded at least one steal in every appearance, including a season-best five takeaways at Fresno State (Dec. 11). The Paris, France, native, has been one of UCI's top offensive threats as well, averaging 8.1 points per contest.
 
COURT PRESENCE
Sophomore Nikki Tom has been a steady presence on the court for UCI, starting every game and averaging 7.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 steals. She has seven double-figure scoring performances, including a career-high 18 points on a near perfect outing where she was 6-of-7 from the field (4-4 3FG) vs. LIU on Nov. 25. In addition, the 5-foot-9 guard registered a career-high five steals and six assists vs. Westcliff on Dec. 14.
 
ON THE HORIZON
Diaba Konate, who dished out her 300th career assist at Eastern Washington on Dec. 1, is approaching another benchmark as she is on pace to reach 1,000 points. Konate (944) needs 56 more points to join the 1K club.
 
HUNT OUT FOR SEASON
Graduate student Naomi Hunt, a starter who was leading the Anteaters in both scoring (11.7 ppg) and rebounding (4.9 rpg), suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Big West opener against CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 31. Hunt reached two milestones in her time at UCI as she eclipsed 1,000 career points last season and surpassed 200 career 3-pointers made in the win at Eastern Washington on Dec. 1. The 6-foot-1 forward knocked down 212 threes and totaled 1,161 points with 803 in her three seasons at Long Beach State and 358 in her two years at UC Irvine.
 
ROAD WARRIORS
The Anteaters have played 11 of their 18 games away from Irvine and are 8-3 in those contests. UCI recently wrapped up a stretch where it played four of five on the road, including back-to-back trips to Santa Barbara and Hawai'i.
 
QUARTER RECORDS
The 'Eaters outscored Whittier, 26-0, in the 3Q of their 98-33 season-opening win. It was the first time in program history UCI held its opponent scoreless in a quarter (since 2015-16). The previous school record was one point allowed in the third frame against Life Pacific (2018).
 
DOWN TO THE WIRE
UC Irvine has been impressive in close contests this season with a 5-1 record in games decided by four points or less. In non-conference play, the Anteaters had two game-winners in the final seconds as Diaba Konate sank the go-ahead jumper with 0.2 ticks on the clock in a 60-58 triumph at Sac State (Nov. 12), and Nevaeh Parkinson converted a layup with 4.2 seconds remaining to give UCI a 54-53 victory at Seattle U (Nov. 19).
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine is home for a pair of games next week, hosting UC San Diego (Feb. 2) and Long Beach State (Feb. 4).