IRVINE, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Women's Basketball team is set for a two-game road trip this weekend. The Gauchos will first play a pivotal game against UC Irvine on Thursday, Feb. 8 before traveling to CSUN on Saturday, Feb. 10.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos went 1-1 last week with a loss to UC Davis and a win over Cal State Bakersfield. In the loss to the Aggies, Alyssa Marin scored a career-high 31 points to lead all scorers in the game. In the following game, Skylar Burke posted a career-high 19 points to help the Gauchos edge Bakersfield at home.
 
ATTACKING THE ANTEATERS
The Gauchos and Anteaters will meet for the first time this season on Thursday night. UC Irvine currently holds a six-game win streak against UC Santa Barbara. The Anteaters, like the Gauchos, are currently 8-3 in conference play and tied for second. Both teams sit just a game behind Big West leader, Hawai'i who posts a 9-2 record.
 
UC Irvine comes into the contest with a 54-game streak of holding opponents under 70 points. The last time a team scored 70 or more in a game against the Anteaters was in March 2022. They will try to extend that streak against UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos however lead the conference in points per game, averaging 67.7 per contest. When the Gauchos score 70 or more points they are 7-0 on the season and since Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson took over they are 57-12 when they hit that mark.
 
Leading the Anteaters this season is junior Deja Lee who had her fourth 20-point performance of the season last Saturday in a loss to Hawai'i. In Big West play alone, Lee ranks second in the league in steals and fourth in scoring. She also ranks in the top 10 in conference in field goal percentage and three-point field goals made.
 
MANAGING THE MATADORS
The Matadors enter the weekend 2-19 overall and 0-11 in Big West action. After opening the season with back-to-back wins the Matadors are currently on a 19-game skid. This will be the second contest between the two teams with UC Santa Barbara winning the first matchup in January, 70-41.
 
CSUN is averaging roughly 53 points a game while allowing opponents to score just over 70 per contest. They shoot the ball at a 34 percent clip from the field and nearly 25 percent from deep. They average just over 35 rebounds per contest and post an assist/turnover ratio of 0.6.
 
The freshmen duo of Amiyah Ferguson and Kaitlyn Elsholz have been the focal points for CSUN. Ferguson currently leads the team in scoring at 9.0 points per game and has been the team's leading scorer six times. Elsholz was previously named The Big West Player of the Week back in November and is averaging 7.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game for the Matadors.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
The Gauchos contest on Thursday night will take place in Irvine, Calif. at the Bren Events Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. For those unable to make the trip the game will be streamed through ESPN+ with live stats available.
 
On Saturday, the Gauchos and Matadors will square off at 2 p.m. inside the Premier America Credit Union Arena on the campus of CSUN. Like all Big West contests, the game will be streamed through ESPN+ with live stats available.