Eastern Washington (3-0) at
UC Irvine (1-2)
Date: Monday, Nov. 20
Time: 6:00 PM (PST)
Location: Bren Events Center (5,000) - Irvine, Calif.
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IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine women's basketball welcomes Eastern Washington to the Bren Events Center for a 6 p.m. showdown on Monday, Nov. 20.

STARTING FIVE: STORYLINES
• UC Irvine has a streak of 37 consecutive games holding its opponent to under 70 points. The last time the Anteaters gave up 70+ was in an overtime win against UC Davis in the 2022 Big West quarterfinals (March 11, 2022). Last year, the 'Eaters finished the campaign ranked seventh in the nation in scoring defense with a program-record 53.2 points allowed per outing. Through three games this year, they have given up just 52.7 points per contest.

• Junior Déja Lee has led the Anteaters in scoring and assists in two of the team's first three games. Lee opened the season with a career-high 23 points at Pepperdine before scoring 13 in a 74-43 win over Seattle U. She also dished out five dimes against the Redhawks and had five this past Tuesday at Saint Mary's. On the season, Lee is tops on the squad with 15.0 points and 4.0 assists per outing. She needs one more assist to reach 100 in her career.

• The 'Eaters have not lost back-to-back contests since the end of the 2021-22 season when they fell to Hawai'i in the Big West Championship game (March 12, 2022) and UCLA in the first round of the WNIT (March 18, 2022). The last time they dropped consecutive regular-season games was at Arizona State on Dec. 21, 2021, and at Grand Canyon on Dec. 23, 2021.

• For the first time since 2019-20, UCI has more upperclassmen than underclassmen with all 10 of its returning letterwinners being juniors and seniors. The group led the 'Eaters to a historic season last year as they won the program's first Big West regular-season championship, advanced to the second round of the WNIT and set a school record in both overall (25) and conference (16) victories. Five Anteaters earned All-Big West honors in 2022-23. Hunter Hernandez was a first-team selection, while Nikki Tom, Déja Lee and Nevaeh Parkinson received an honorable mention nod. Parkinson was also named the conference's Best Sixth Player and Diaba Konate made the All-Defensive Team.

• UC Irvine adds four newcomers into the mix for the 2023-24 season. Redshirt freshman Clara Djoko joined the team from France last December. As a midseason addition, Djoko was on the bench for the Anteaters' historic run, but did not play. The 'Eaters also bring in true freshmen Shirel Nahum, who was the fifth-leading scorer at the 2023 FIBA U18 Women's European Championship, and Haley Hernandez. Hernandez follows older sister, Hunter, to UCI from Archbishop Mitty High School. Rounding out the quartet of newcomers is graduate transfer Moulayna Johnson "MJ" Sidi Baba. Sidi Baba hails from Sweden and spent the previous four years at the University of Miami. 

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Eastern Washington (3-0) defeated NAIA member Corban University, 72-47, for its third-straight win to start the season. Sophomore guard Aaliyah Alexander leads five Eagles averaging double figures in scoring at 19.3 points per game. Preseason All-Big Sky selections Jaydia Martin and Jamie Loera have registered 11.0 ppg, while Loera has also dished out a team-high 19 assists. Joddie Gleason is in her third year at the helm of an EWU program that was picked first in the 2023-24 Big Sky Preseason Coaches Poll.

SERIES RECORD
UC Irvine leads in its all-time series with Eastern Washington, 5-4. The Anteaters broke the tie last year as they edged the Eagles, 67-65, in Cheney, Washington (Dec. 1, 2022). The last time the two teams met at the Bren Events Center was on Dec. 19, 2009, with UCI taking the 87-73 victory.

THE BIG 5-0
The 2023-24 campaign marks the 50th season of UC Irvine women's basketball. In their inaugural year (1974-75), the Anteaters went 7-4 under head coach Dorene Cowart. They earned the program's first win in their second game with a 52-33 victory over UC San Diego. Since then, UCI has produced five 20-win seasons, one Big West championship, one Big West tournament title, two All-Americans and four UCI Athletics Hall of Fame members.

LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine fell to Saint Mary's, 52-37, at University Credit Union Pavilion on Tuesday, Nov. 14. The Anteaters couldn't find their rhythm offensively, shooting 14-for-51 from the field and just 1-of-21 from beyond the arc. They still held their opponent to under 60 points for the second-straight outing. Nevaeh Parkinson and Déja Lee led the 'Eaters with nine points apiece. Parkinson also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, while Lee dished out a team-best five assists. Caiyle Kaupu added a season-best six points, and Nevaeh Dean had four points and five boards. 

IN THE RANKINGS
Both UC Irvine (11 points) and Eastern Washington (41 points) were receiving votes in the latest College Insider Women's Mid-Major Poll released on Nov. 13. Last year, the Anteaters made their way into the Top 25 on Dec. 27, 2022, and remained in the rankings for the rest of the season. They rose to as high as No. 13 (Jan. 24), which was a program best, before closing out the year at No. 23.

PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
UC Irvine was picked to finish second in The Big West Preseason Coaches Poll. The Anteaters earned two of the 11 first-place votes and 88 total points to come in behind defending conference tournament champion Hawai'i, which took the top spot with 95 points (six first-place votes). UC Davis also received three first-place nods but finished third with 85 points. Junior guard Nikki Tom was named to the six-member All-Big West Preseason Team.

TENACIOUS D
UC Irvine, which concluded the 2022-23 campaign ranked seventh in all of NCAA Division I with a program-record 53.2 points allowed per game, has picked up right where it left off. The Anteaters have held all three of their opponents to under 65, giving up 52.7 points per outing. 

STARTING LINE
Junior Déja Lee is off to an impressive start in 2023-24, leading the team in scoring (15.0 ppg) and assists (4.0 apg). In the season opener at Pepperdine, Lee scored a career-high 23 points as she matched her career best with seven field goals made and went a perfect 7-of-7 at the free throw line. She followed that outing with 13 points (5-9 FG) and five assists in a 74-43 rout of Seattle U. The 5-foot-9 point guard now has 17 double-figure scoring games and three 20-point performances in her two-plus years at UCI.

OFF THE BENCH
Senior Nevaeh Parkinson, the reigning Big West Best Sixth Player, has continued to provide a spark off the bench for the Anteaters. The 6-foot-3 center is averaging 11.0 points and a team-best 8.0 rebounds per game. Against Seattle U, Parkinson went 8-for-11 from the floor to finish with a career-high 17 points She is tops on the squad with a 68.2 (15-22) field goal percentage this season, and in 35 career games played at UCI, the New Mexico transfer is shooting 53.7% (110-204) from the floor.

IRON WOMAN
Junior Nikki Tom has played in every game since her arrival at UC Irvine in 2021-22. She leads the team with 68 consecutive appearances, 45 consecutive starts and 1,896 minutes (27.9 mpg) in an Anteater uniform. The Fresno native played 35+ minutes in 21 of her last 22 outings.  In the 2023-24 season opener, Tom finished with 14 points and four steals in 38 minutes. The 5-foot-9 guard was named to the All-Big West Preseason Coaches Team.

AIN'T THAT GRAND
Fifth-year senior Diaba Konate reached the 1,000-point career milestone in her 100th collegiate game played last year. Konate entered the contest against UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 15, 2023, needing 16 points to hit the benchmark, and easily surpassed that with a season-high 20 points in a 74-60 overtime win. She has career totals of 1,098 points, 365 rebounds, 393 assists and 220 steals.

GIVE AND TAKE
Diaba Konate led the team and ranked among the top-five in The Big West in both assists (3.6 apg) and steals (2.2 spg) last season. In 32 appearances as an Anteater, she has recorded at least one assist 30 times and at least one steal 29 times. Konate, who tied for eighth in single-season school history with 63 steals last year, was named to the 2022-23 Big West All-Defensive Team.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
UC Irvine women's basketball has five international student-athletes from four different countries - graduate transfer Moulayna Johnson Sidi Baba (Sweden), senior Diaba Konate (France), junior Déja Lee (Canada), redshirt freshman Clara Djoko (France) and freshman Shirel Nahum (Israel). All five have represented their countries in a FIBA-sponsored event. In addition, junior Olivia Williams, who was born and raised in Northern California, has dual citizenship and was a member of the New Zealand National Team that won silver at the 2019 U17 FIBA Women's Oceania Championship.

100 AND COUNTING
Seventh-year head coach Tamara Inoue earned her 100th career win in last year's non-conference finale against Grand Canyon (Dec. 21, 2022). Inoue is the second coach in program history to reach the century mark as her 118 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 three of the program's four national postseason tournaments and three of their five 20-win campaigns.

UP NEXT
UC Irvine makes its way to Stockton, California, for the Tiger Turkey Tip-Off where it will face St. Thomas (Nov. 24) and host Pacific (Nov. 25).