RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Women's Basketball team (9-6, 3-2 Big West) is looking to get back in The Big West win column following their narrow loss to Cal Poly last week. The Gauchos will hit the road this upcoming weekend, making an appearance to face the UC Riverside Highlanders (7-8, 3-2 Big West) this Thursday before continuing up north to battle the UC Davis Aggies (11-5, 5-1 Big West) on Saturday. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara is ready to make their presence known after splitting the last week of conference play, defeating Cal State Bakersfield, and falling just short to Cal Poly. In the narrow 51-50 loss to the Mustangs, Skylar Burke was the standout player boasting 11 points and taking over the new longest active double-digit streak for the Gauchos at six games. Jessica Grant got it done from the three-point line, posting three on the night to position herself as the second-highest scorer. Zoe Borter came up big for the Gauchos from both offense and defense, posting seven points and a career-high nine rebounds on the night. Borter's rebounds helped Santa Barbara stay competitive with the Mustangs, but first-year head coach Renee Jimenez mentioned that "it was a battle of who was going to win the boards," a battle that Santa Barbara lost by just six in total. However, the Gauchos have remained steady from the free-throw line, shooting at a perfect 100% for the second time this season. 
 
HEADING TO THE HIGHLANDERS
UC Riverside has split its first 15 games of the season, five of which being in-conference play falling to Long Beach State and Hawai'i while handing losses to CSUN, Cal State Fullerton, and UC Irvine. 

The Highlanders rank second in the conference in team offensive rebounds, turnover margin, and steals while also boasting a position of third in the conference in assist/turnover ratio. 
 
Leading the Highlanders' offensive rebounds is Esther Matarranz, ranking fifth in Big West averaging 2.7 per game while contributing the team-high average of 4.5 defensive rebounds and 6.8 points per game. Shelley Duchemin is the team's leading scorer, averaging 11.2 points per game while ranking third in the conference for field goal percentage at a .414 clip. Zoe Tillery also provides steady contributions to the Highlander's offense, leading the team with an average of 2.3 assists per game.
 
ATTACKING THE AGGIES
The Aggies have had an impressive start to their season and Big West play, notching only 5 losses, one of which in a battle with No. 24 Stanford. They currently have 11 wins, five coming from in-conference play defeating Cal State Bakersfield, CSUN, Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly and the Gauchos. They are coming off a tough loss to Long Beach State this past Saturday and are looking to keep their Big West momentum high. They will host Cal Poly on Thursday before facing Santa Barbara.
 
UC Davis ranks first in several categories of the Big West, including offensive scoring, score margin, team field goal percentage, opponent field goal percentage, team three-point field goal percentage, three-point field goals made, team defensive rebounds, rebounding margin, and assist/turnover ratio. The Aggies rank fifth in the NCAA in opponent field goal percentage at 33.5 percent, as well.
 
Senior guard Tova Sabel leads the Aggies' offensive scoring game, ranking third in the conference averaging 15.1 points per game. She also ranks second in the conference in three-point field goals and fifth in three-point field goal percentage, averaging 2.4 per game at a .339 clip. Megan Norris is the team's leading rebounder, ranking third in the conference averaging 7.6 per game, while also leading the conference in field goal percentage at a .465 clip. She is also fifth in the conference for blocked shots averaging 1.4 per game. Sydney Burns adds to the team's offensive success ranking second in conference assist/turnover ratio and third in assists averaging a 1.4 ratio and 3.0 assists per game.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
The Gauchos and Highlanders will tip off at 6 p.m. from the SRC Arena in Riverside, California on Thursday, Jan. 16. UC Santa Barbara will then head up the coast to Davis on Saturday, Jan. 18, tipping off against the Aggies at 2 p.m. in University Credit Union Center. Both games will be live on ESPN+ with live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com/WBBLiveStats.