2020-21 Big West Women's Basketball Weekly Release No. 1
The 2020-21 Big West women’s basketball season tips this week, starting with three games on Wednesday, November 25.
The season starts with a late morning tip in Palo Alto as Cal Poly visits second-ranked Stanford. Later in the day Cal State Fullerton will also take on a ranked team on the road as they travel up the 405 to battle #9 UCLA. The final game of the day is a home opener as four-time defending regular season champion UC Davis hosts area rival San Francisco.
Two more games are scheduled this week, both coming on Saturday in home venues. The Aggies have their second game of the week as they host Simpson, while UC Irvine welcomes Cal Baptist to the Bren Center to open the season.
AROUND THE BIG WEST
FAMILY ADDITIONS
The Big West welcomes CSU Bakersfield and UC San Diego to the membership ledger, bringing the total number of conference institutions to 11 – 5 CSU schools, 5 UC schools and the University of Hawai‘i.
CSU Bakersfield joins the league after spending the last seven years in the Western Athletic Conference. Roadrunner head coach Greg McCall enters his 10th season on the sidelines coming off a 16-win campaign that included a 12-4 record at home. CSUB accompanies fellow Cal State system institutions Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, CSUN and Long Beach State in the conference.
UC San Diego makes its Big West debut after a highly successful tenure at the Division II level. Heidi VanDerveer enters her ninth season as head coach, having won 163 games since taking the reins in 2012. UCSB has been especially successful of late, having won 83 games over the last three seasons including a 30-win campaign in 2018-19. The Tritons join fellow UC schools in UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara.
Having started a four-year NCAA-mandated reclassfication period from Division II to Division I, the Tritons are not eligible for Big West or NCAA postseason events.
SCHEDULING SCORECARD
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has reached near and afar, including the structure of the 2020-21 women’s basketball Big West schedule.
Utilizing a modified format that will reduce travel and emphasize the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and staff, institutions will play a total of 18 Big West games, but not in the traditional home-and-home round-robin format. Teams will play the same opponent on consecutive days at one site, with the majority of games taking place on Friday and Saturday. The lone exception is week one of league play, which will take place on Sunday, December 27 and Monday, December 28. Each team will contest the schedule over an 11-week period with one bye week built in.
CSUN OPTS OUT OF 2020-21
Due to players voluntarily electing to opt out of competition, the CSUN women’s basketball team will not participate in the 2020-21 season. The Matadors began preseason camp with 12 players on the roster. A 13th student-athlete could not enter the country due to travel constraints. As preseason workouts unfolded, six CSUN players elected to opt-out citing COVID-19 concerns, leaving the team with only six players available for action.
This decision was made in conjunction with the women’s basketball student-athletes, who offered their thoughts in a statement.
“As a team, we came to the difficult decision that we will not compete this year. Since there are only six of us and the physical health concerns from the wear and tear of a full season with back-to-back competition, we are prioritizing our health and safety during this global pandemic. We love the game and we are competitors. We will use this time to focus and prepare mentally and physically to compete at a high level and full capacity for the 2021-22 season.”
AGGIES THE FAVORITE OF COACHES AND MEDIA
UC Davis was tabbed as the favorite by both the coaches and media in women’s hoops preseason polling. The Aggies got 114 points and six first place votes from the coaches, while grabbing 13 of the 20 first place votes from the media on their way to 207 points.
The preseason All-Conference teams also looked very similar as Cal Poly’s SIERRA CAMPISANO, Cal State Fullerton’s TAYLOR TURNEY, Long Beach State’s JUSTINA KING, UC Davis’ CIERRA HALL and UC Santa Barbara’s DANAE MILLER appeared on both lists. The Mustangs’ ABBEY ELLIS appeared as the final player on the media team while UC Riverside’s KEILANI COOPER was added to the coaches list.
STAMPEDING THROUGH CONFERENCE
UC Davis enters the season as the four-time defending Big West regular season champion. The Aggie dominance in conference play has stood head and shoulders above the rest during their title run. The team is 55-9 against league opponents over that time, collecting 20 more wins than the next best team (CSUN). UC Davis has also been practically unbeatable at home during conference play over the last four years, going an incredible 30-2 at the Pavilion.
SOMETHING NEW
UC Riverside has a new head coach on the sideline as former Grand Canyon head coach Nicole Powell takes over the reins. Powell lead a turnaround at her former stop, highlighting in a second-place finish in the WAC as part of an eight-game improvement a year ago. She was also an assistant coach at Oregon, helping the Ducks secure their highest-rated recruiting class in school history which included 2020 National Player of the Year and WNBA draft pick Sabrina Ionescu.
Powell is a former WNBA All-Star and championship winning player in her professional career, while also earning three All-America honors and two PAC-12 Player of the Year nods in her collegiate career at Stanford.
ANTEATERS STEPPING FORWARD
UC Irvine is in the midst of one of its most success eras in school history, winning 51 games over the last three seasons. That win total is the most for the program over a three-year period since 1983-86. The Anteaters are led by rising sophomore SOPHIA LOCANDRO, an honorable mention All-Big West selection a year ago that averaged 11.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. She stepped up her game in her first conference season, averaging 15.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per outing.
DYNAMIC DUO
Cal Poly’s run in the Big West Tournament last year put the spotlight on arguably the best 1-2 punch in the Big West. Senior forward SIERRA CAMPISANO averaged 17.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists a year ago, while sophomore guard ABBEY ELLIS averaged 15.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals in an outstanding freshman campaign. Ellis’ point average was 13th in the NCAA among freshmen. Last March the duo was unstoppable in the Big West Tournament prior to the event’s cancellation. Ellis averaged 25 points per game while Campisano put up 22 per game as the club advanced to the semifinal round.
THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
CSU Bakersfield and UC San Diego aren’t coming into the league without headliners leading the way. The Roadrunners are led by junior forward JAYDEN EGGLESTON who averaged 11.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists a year ago in her first season with the squad. The Tritons have an elite scorer in junior guard JULIA MACABUHAY who poured in 17.2 points per game, hit 59 threes at a 39.9% clip and even had one game where she hit 12-of-13 from the foul line.
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