Cal Poly (6-6, 1-1 Big West) at
UC Irvine (7-4, 1-0 Big West)
Date: Thursday, Jan. 2
Time: 6 p.m. (PST)
Location: Bren Events Center (5,000) - Irvine, Calif.

UC Irvine (7-4, 1-0 Big West) at
UC Riverside (6-6, 2-0 Big West)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 4
Time: 4 p.m. (PST)
Location: SRC Arena (3,168) - Riverside, Calif. 

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine women's basketball resumes Big West play this week when it hosts Cal Poly in its conference home opener at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 2. The Anteaters will then make their way to UC Riverside for a 4 p.m. Big West showdown on Saturday, Jan. 4.

STARTING FIVE: STORYLINES
• UC Irvine enters Thursday's contest with a 1-0 conference record as it defeated Cal State Bakersfield, 65-40, during The Big West's Bold Week on Dec. 5. It was the Anteaters' fifth-straight Big West-opening win.

• On Thursday, UCI will be playing its first game at the Bren Events Center since Nov. 16. The 46 days in between home games was the second-longest stretch among NCAA Division I teams this year, behind only Columbia (47).

• Junior Hunter Hernandez is tops on the squad and fifth in The Big West in scoring at 13.4 points per outing. Sophomore Summah Hanson also ranks among the top-10 in the conference at 12.1 ppg.

• Senior Déja Lee is on pace to break the all-time school record in steals. Lee is tied for seventh with 173 career takeaways, which puts her 23 behind Andee Ritter who amassed a program-best 196 steals from 2015-19. Lee is also tied for eighth in school history with 113 career 3-pointers made, and is 114 points away from becoming the 15th member of UCI's 1,000-point club.

• UC Irvine has claimed back-to-back Big West championships, winning the tournament in 2023-24 and the first regular-season title in program history in 2022-23. Last year, the Anteaters earned a No. 13 seed in their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1995. 

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Cal Poly (6-6, 1-1 Big West) is riding a two-game win streak. Annika Shah, the reigning Big West Player of the Week, led the Mustangs in both contests with 25 points in a 66-58 victory at Southern Utah on Dec. 28 and 26 points in a 67-42 rout of Seattle U on Dec. 20. Shah is tops on the squad and second in the conference in scoring at 15.2 points per outing. Mary Carter is also averaging 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.0 blocks, while Sierra Lichtie has pulled down a team-best 6.5 rebounds per game.

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
UC Riverside (6-6, 2-0 Big West) saw its five-game win streak come to an end with an 80-57 loss in its non-conference finale at UNLV on Dec. 21. UCR will return to action against Long Beach State on Thursday, Jan. 2. Shelley Duchemin leads the Highlanders with 11.8 points per contest, while Esther Matarranz has put up 7.2 points and a team-best 7.5 rebounds per outing.

SERIES RECORDS
UC Irvine trails in its all-time series with Cal Poly, 37-31, but has won the last seven with a +12.7 scoring margin during that stretch. The two teams met only once last year with the Anteaters routing the Mustangs, 65-31, in San Luis Obispo (March 7, 2024). 

UCI trails in its all-time series with UC Riverside, 41-29, but has won seven in a row and nine of the last 10. The 'Eaters swept the Highlanders during the 2023-24 regular season with a 67-52 win on the road (Dec. 28, 2023) and a 62-53 victory at home (Feb. 10, 2024).

LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine was unable to get its offense going against the height and length of Oregon's defense as it dropped a 71-43 decision to the Ducks at Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday, Dec. 19. The Anteaters were held to season lows in points scored, field goals made (13) and field goal percentage (25%). They also tied a season high with 19 turnovers. UCI held Oregon below its season average of 74.1 points per game. Hunter Hernandez led the 'Eaters with nine points and six rebounds. Ines Gnahore, who was making her second appearance of the year, went 3-for-3 from the field and finished with eight points. Summah Hanson added seven points, while Olivia Williams had six. Nikki Tom tied for the team lead with six boards. 

LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
UC Irvine has become a powerhouse in The Big West under ninth-year head coach Tamara Inoue. The Anteaters placed among the top-two in the conference in each of the last five years, including the first regular-season title in program history in 2022-23. Since 2020-21, UCI has not lost more than four conference games in a season, combining for a league-leading 58-14 (.806) record during that stretch. The 'Eaters also advanced to the championship game of the Big West tournament three times in the last four years.

DEFEND THE BREN
Since 2017-18, UCI is 72-25 (.742) at the Bren Events Center. The Anteaters are 3-1 at home this year. They have not lost more than four home games in each of the last seven seasons.

MID-MAJOR POLL
UCI has been featured in the receiving votes section of the College Insider Women's Mid-Major Poll eight times this season, including in the most recent edition released on Dec. 31.

PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
UC Irvine was picked second in The Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll. The defending Big West Champion Anteaters earned five of the 11 first-place votes and 95 total points in a narrow race with Hawai'i, which won the 2023-24 Big West regular season title. The Rainbow Wahine (96) received six first-place votes to come in one point ahead of the 'Eaters. Reigning Big West Player of the Year Déja Lee was named to the All-Big West Preseason Team. Lee was also included on the World Exposure Report's Top-50 Mid-Major Players to Watch list.

DEFENSIVE IDENTITY
UCI ended each of the last two seasons ranked among the top-15 in the nation in scoring defense. In 2023-24, the Anteaters allowed 55.7 points per game, which was 14th in all of NCAA Division I. In 2022-23, the 'Eaters were seventh in the country with a program-record 53.2 points allowed per contest. This year, they have held seven opponents to 60 points or less, including a season-low 40 at Cal State Bakersfield. As of Dec. 29, the Anteaters rank second in The Big West and 55th in the nation in scoring defense (57.1 ppg).

THE TRAVELING ANTEATERS
After playing their first four games of the season at home, the 'Eaters hit the road for the remainder of the 2024 calendar year. They had a 46-day stretch where they played seven games with trips to Philadelphia, Albuquerque, Denver, Bakersfield, Corvallis and Eugene. Following its final non-conference game at the University of Oregon on Dec. 19, UCI had a two-week layoff over winter break before Thursday's Big West home opener against Cal Poly (Jan. 2). The 46 days in between home games is the second-longest stretch among NCAA DI teams this year, behind only Columbia (47).

SLOW DECEMBER
UC Irvine played the fewest number of games (3) in the month of December in the program's NCAA Division I Championship era (since 1981-82). The Anteaters opened Big West play at Cal State Bakersfield on Dec. 5. Following finals week, they traveled to the Pacific Northwest to close out their non-conference slate at Oregon State (Dec. 15) and at Oregon (Dec. 19). 

CLIMBING THE RANKS
Ninth-year head coach Tamara Inoue ranks second among the program's all-time winningest coaches with 147 career victories. She is only 11 wins behind 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 UCI to a pair of Big West Championships, four of the Anteaters' five national postseason appearances, their first victory in a national postseason tournament (WNIT), four of their six 20-win campaigns and school records in both overall (25) and conference wins (16).

CHASING 1,000
Senior Déja Lee has 886 career points, putting her 114 away from joining the 1,000-point club. If she accomplishes the feat, she would be the first Anteater to do so since Stephanie Duda in 2008.

MAKING IT COUNT
Sophomore Summah Hanson is tops in The Big West and 22nd in the nation in free throw percentage (90.2%). Hanson has missed only four throws on 41 attempts this season. She made her first 12 of the year from the charity stripe and had a season-long streak of 16 consecutive FTs made from Nov. 21-Dec. 15.

SUMMAH TIME
Summah Hanson has made an immediate impact at UC Irvine as she is tops on the squad in rebounding (6.0 rpg) and second in scoring (12.1 ppg). Hanson has reached double figures in scoring in five of her last seven outings with 12 points at Cal State Bakersfield, 19 at Denver, 18 at New Mexico, a season-high 20 at Penn and 12 at Drexel. The 6-foot-3 forward added 10 rebounds against the Quakers for the Anteaters' only double-double of the season. She was named The Big West Player of the Week (Nov. 25) for her effort. 

ON THE HUNT
Junior Hunter Hernandez has not missed a beat in her return to the court. Hernandez, who sat out the 2023-24 campaign recovering from a knee injury sustained on Feb. 15, 2023, currently leads the team in scoring (13.4 ppg) and is second in rebounding (5.2 rpg). The 5-foot-9 guard has scored 10+ points in six of her nine outings with a pair of 20-point performances. In a 72-55 win over William & Mary on Nov. 11, Hernandez poured in a career-high 29, while she also finished with 20 at Penn on Nov. 21. Hernandez added 15 points vs. Saint Mary's, 13 vs. New Mexico State, 11 at Oregon State and 11 vs. Pepperdine. 

THREE-POINT THREAT
Junior Olivia Williams is tops on the squad in 3-pointers made (18) and is third in efficiency (36.7%). She has knocked down multiple threes on five occasions, including a career-high tying four vs. Saint Mary's (4-6) and at New Mexico (4-7). Williams' start in the season opener on Nov. 4 was her first game since suffering a knee injury in the opening quarter at Hawai'i on Jan. 19, 2023. The 6-foot-1 guard has been finding her rhythm on the court, reaching double figures in scoring four times with a career-high 18 points at UNM. 

STEADY HAND
Reigning Big West Player of the Year Déja Lee has continued to be a steady force in all facets of the game for the Anteaters as she is averaging 9.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.9 steals. Lee had a season-best 20 points at New Mexico where she was 7-for-12 from the floor and 3-of-5 from distance. The 5-foot-9 point guard also pulled down a career-high nine rebounds at Cal State Bakersfield on Dec. 5. In addition, she has dished out a season-best six assists on two occasions. Lee is tied for seventh in program history in career steals (173) and is tied for eighth in threes made (113).

IRON WOMAN
Senior Nikki Tom has played in every game since her arrival at UC Irvine in 2021-22. Her 108 consecutive appearances, 85 starts and 3,140 minutes are the most among UCI's active players. The Fresno, California, native is among the Anteaters' top-three in assists (28) and steals (15) this season. She has 23 career double-figure scoring performances and was a 2022-23 All-Big West honorable mention selection. Last year, Tom led the team with an 86.0 free throw percentage (49-57), which is the seventh-best in single-season school history.

STEALING THE SHOW
Déja Lee is tied for seventh among UC Irvine's all-time leaders with 173 career steals, while Nikki Tom is right on her heels in ninth (172). They are both on pace to break the school record of 196 that was established by Andee Ritter in 2019. Tom entered the program's top-10 after swiping four steals in the opener against New Mexico State. Lee, who set a single-season school record with 82 steals last year, also cracked UCI's all-time top-10 with her 160th career takeaway at Drexel on Nov. 20.

DEAN DELIVERS
Graduate student Nevaeh Dean is averaging a career-best 5.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. She has pulled down 5+ boards six times with a season-high nine in a 72-68 overtime win at Penn. She also recorded back-to-back double figure scoring games for the first time in her collegiate career with 10 points vs. Saint Mary's (Nov. 16) and a season-best 11 at Drexel (Nov. 20). In those two games, the 6-foot-2 forward went 10-of-18 (56%) from the field. Dean has started 74 of 75 games played in her two-plus years at UC Irvine. She transferred to UCI from Cincinnati prior to the 2022-23 season. 

YEAR TWO
Shirel Nahum, a 2023-24 Big West All-Freshman Team selection, ranked among the league's top-10 first-year players in scoring (5.1 ppg), assists (1.0 apg), steals (0.8 spg) and minutes (20.1 mpg) last season. This year, Nahum started the conference slate with a season-best 12 points on a 5-of-9 shooting performance at Cal State Bakersfield (Dec. 5). The 5-foot-9 point guard has seven career double-figure scoring games with a best of 16 points at New Mexico State (Dec. 5, 2023).

SAAC LEADER
Senior Amelia Scharpf is the president of UC Irvine's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in 2024-25. After being a SAAC representative the last two years, Scharpf hopes to use her experience to help increase involvement and build unification across all 18 of the department's sports. On the court, Scharpf has played in 75 consecutive games with 26 starts over the last two-plus years. She finished with a career-high eight rebounds at New Mexico on Nov. 27, and had a season-best eight points at Cal State Bakersfield on Dec. 5.

ANTEATER DEBUTS
Freshman Lauryn Madsen and junior transfer Ines Gnahore (Salt Lake Community College) both made their way into the scoring column in their NCAA Division I collegiate debuts at Oregon State on Dec. 15. Gnahore knocked down a 3-pointer late in the second quarter, while Madsen went 1-for-2 at the free throw line in the fourth period. In her two games as an Anteater, Gnahore is 4-for-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.

UP NEXT
UC Irvine is back at the Bren Events Center next week, hosting CSUN on Thursday, Jan. 9, and UC San Diego on Saturday, Jan. 11.