BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Women's Basketball team (8-5, 2-1 Big West) is back in Big West action and looking to keep their momentum going this week. After a big win over Hawai'i last Thursday, the Gauchos will visit a winless Cal State Bakersfield (0-14, 0-4 Big West) squad this Thursday before hosting Cal Poly (6-8, 1-3 Big West) at the Thunderdome on Saturday.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara is riding high after one of their best performances under first-year head coach Renee Jimenez, a 72-62 win over preseason conference favorites Hawai'i. Cayla Williams had a career game, scoring 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including going 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Jessica Grant also got in on the three-point attack, going 4-of-7 from deep for a 12-point haul. Down low, nine of 10 Gauchos who saw the floor recorded at least one board as Santa Barbara out-rebounded Hawai'i 33-24. Skylar Burke, despite being the third-shortest player on the team, led the Gauchos with nine rebounds on the night; Zoe Borter had seven and Williams four. Santa Barbara also continued to get to and score from the free-throw line, going 20-of-23 from the charity stripe as a team. Alyssa Marin was a perfect 8-for-8 as part of her 10-point outing as she became the 30^th Gaucho to score 1,000 points for Santa Barbara.
 
SCOUTING THE ROADRUNNERS
Cal State Bakersfield has lost each of its first 14 games this season, though to give the Roadrunners some credit, their schedule has featured some big names, including Arizona and San Diego State, as well as the Grand Canyon and Eastern Washington teams that both beat the Gauchos this season.
 
In comparison to the rest of the conference and the nation, the Roadrunners do not do anything particularly well, as they rank among The Big West's top five teams in only four categories: bench points per game (20.1), blocks per game (3.4), fouls per game (16.4), and three-point attempts per game (20.9).
 
However, there are two individuals who stand out on the stat sheet for Bakersfield: Ary Dizon and Alli Dioli. Dizon is The Big West blocks leader, averaging 2.29 per game for a total of 32 on the season, while Dioli is the Roadrunners' most eager three-point shooter, averaging 1.85 makes from deep per game, sixth-most in the conference. Dizon and Dioli are also Bakersfield's top scorers, averaging 7.7 and 7.2 points per game, respectively.
 
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Cal Poly will host UC San Diego before visiting the Gauchos this weekend, and the Mustangs will be looking to get back in the win column after losses to UC Irvine and Hawai'i last week. Against the Anteaters, Cal Poly managed just 38 points, the third time they were held under 40 points in a game this season, though the others came against USC and UCLA. The Mustang offense did not fare much better against Hawai'i though, being held to just 50 points; the fifth time that Cal Poly has failed to put 51 up on the board this year. Though again, the other time was in a loss at Stanford.
 
The Mustangs showed the stronger side of their game during Bold Week back in December, when they hung with UC Davis in a 66-60 loss, then won at CSUN, 58-45, one of four times holding an opponent under 50 points this year. As a team, the Mustangs share the ball well, force turnovers and both shoot and defend the three efficiently, ranking third in conference in assists per game, turnovers forced per game as well as both three-point percentage and three-point percentage defense.
 
Senior guard Annika Shah is Cal Poly's leader offensively, coming into the week as the most accurate shooter in The Big West with a 42.4 field goal percentage. She also leads the conference in three-pointers attempted and made, ranking second in The Big West with a 39.6 three-point percentage. The team's leading scorer, she averages 14.2 points per game. Sophomore guard/forward Mary Carter is the only other Mustang averaging double digits, with 11.9 points per game.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
The Gauchos and Roadrunners will tip off at 6:30 p.m. from the Icardo Center in Bakersfield on Thursday, Jan. 9. When Santa Barbara hosts Cal Poly in the Thunderdome on Saturday, Jan. 11, the Gauchos and Mustangs will tip off at 4 p.m. Both games will be live on ESPN+ with live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com/WBBLiveStats