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2 Minutes with Tammy
The Big West's Tammy Blackburn takes a look at the play of Daejah Phillips of Hawai'i, looks at the tight standings across the league as we head down the home stretch and gives a shout out to the Tough Like Tammy campaign reaching its goal with two weeks still to go. Fans can make their own pledge or donation at bigwest.org/TLT.
What 2 Watch 4
The Big West standings have stayed tight throughout league play, but the back-to-back champion has had control of the top line for the last two weeks. Hawai’i (16-9, 13-3 BW) plays host in the penultimate weekend of play, welcoming in fellow tournament teams UC Davis (15-12, 11-6 BW) and UC Riverside (16-11, 11-6 BW). Both the Aggies and Highlanders enter the weekend knotted in third in the standings.
Another game to keep an eye on is a battle between the fifth place teams of UC Santa Barbara (16-10, 10-6 BW) and Cal Poly (14-11, 10-6 BW) in San Luis Obispo. The Mustangs will look to defend their home court in the always intense Blue-Green Rivalry game, after UCSB gutted out the 65-64 overtime win on Jan. 6. Both squads are coming off losses in their last time on the court.
As three teams jockey for the final two spots in the bracket of the 2024 Hercules Tires Big West Women’s Basketball Championship, two of those in contention are set to square off against one another on Thursday. Cal State Fullerton plays host to Long Beach State. The Titans nabbed a 67-61 road victory at Walter Pyramid in their conference opener on Dec. 28, so the Beach are looking for road revenge as they eye the postseason possibilities.
All Big West basketball games are set to air on ESPN+. Check listings for more information and a complete game schedule.
Last Week, Today
- Four teams clinched their spots to the 2024 Hercules Tires Big West Women's Basketball Championship, but every seed is still up for grabs.
- Hawai’i won their third game in a row after taking down Long Beach State on the road. The Rainbow Wahine got a stellar effort off the bench from Big West Player of the Week Daejah Phillips in the contest. Phillips finished with a career-high 29 points on a fiery 12-of-14 outing from the floor in just 20 minutes of action. UH is currently leading the standings with four games remaining on their schedule.
- Also enjoying a perfect weekend was UC Riverside. The Highlanders cruised to a road win at UC San Diego before some last-second heroics in an overtime home victory over Cal Poly. Big West leading scorer Jordan Webster poured in 23 points with six steals against the Tritons. In Saturday’s thriller against the Mustangs, Esther Matarranz was the high scorer with 16, and Jordyn Marshall provided a layup as time expired in the overtime period, scoring the last five points of the game to seal the comeback.
- UC Davis has put together four consecutive winning efforts, downing CSUN and Cal State Bakersfield at home last week. Evanne Turner matched a season-best 23 points on 9-for-19 shooting in Thursday’s win. Saturday, four players scored in double figures with Tova Sabel and Mazatlan Harris both finishing with 15.
- Cal Poly, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC San Diego and Cal State Fullerton each split the weekend. Gracie Gallegos recorded a first collegiate double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds in an overtime win at UC Irvine on Saturday. In the Anteaters’ win against Santa Barbara, Deja Lee scored 14 points on 50 percent shooting to lead the team to victory. For Cal Poly, Annika Shah finished with the rare points-assists double-double with 12 and 10 in a home win over Cal State Fullerton. Long Beach State got a 20-point performance with four assists for Savannah Tucker in a two-point victory at Cal State Bakersfield while Titan Ashlee Lewis put up 21 points with eight rebounds and a block in the successful road trip to CSUN.
'Ship Shape
 After last week’s action, six teams secured their spots in the 2024 Hercules Tires Big West Women’s Basketball Championship. League leaders and back-to-back champions Hawai’i and UC Irvine were the first to claim a March trip to the Las Vegas Valley.
Last week, UC Riverside and UC Davis both posted a pair of wins to enter the field, and UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly also punched their ticket to the postseason.
The final two spots in the revamped bracket are down to the trio of Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Bakersfield. With just one win separating the trio, it’s sure to be down to the wire as everyone jockeys not only for their spot, but their seed, in the final two weekends of the regular season.
For more information on the championship, or to secure your tickets to join us at The Dollar Loan Center, visit bigwest.org/2024!
Be Tough!
 The Big West has joined forces with the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and Big West Analyst Tammy Blackburn for Tough Like Tammy, an initiative designed to raise funds to support further research on all cancers affecting women.
Between February 1 and March 9, 2024, Big West fans are encouraged to join metastatic breast cancer thriver Tammy Blackburn by making a one-time donation or pledge for every offensive rebound secured during Big West women’s basketball games in that period. Through Feb. 10, Big West players have secured 860 offensive rebounds during the campaign. All gifts will benefit the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
It is estimated Big West women’s teams will grab approximately 1,200 total offensive rebounds during the six weeks of the Tough Like Tammy campaign.
Through the first week of the campaign, donations and pledges have already exceeded $6,765 on the quest to reach at least $5,000 before March 9.
Fans can find more detail on Tough Like Tammy, see the leaderboard and donate in the name of your favorite Big West team at BigWest.org/TLT.
Learn more of Tammy's story here >>>
Statistical Superlatives
UC Riverside’s Jordan Webster tops the league in scoring, averaging 17.37 points per game. UC Santa Barbara’s Alexis Whitfield stayed atop the rebounding list, averaging 9.88 per game UC Irvine’s Diaba Konate cut to the front of the lunch line, dishing out 3.72 assists a night.
Cal Poly’s Natalia Ackerman is tops in field goal percentage, connecting at a 58.4 percent clip while also blocking a Big West-best 1.88 shots a game for the Mustangs. Sydney Woodley of Long Beach State averages 3.50 steals per game, good for third in NCAA Division I.
Also making the national rankings, Cal State Bakersfield’s Shaunae Brown connects on 3.15 threes a night, sixth nationally. After last week, Ackerman bumped back ahead of Whitfield in the race to the most double-doubles this season, as the Cal Poly player now has nine with the Gaucho at eight.
Single-Game Supremacy
UC Riverside’s Jordan Webster recorded a 31-point performance against Cal State Bakersfield on Jan. 18, the first 30-point game of the season for a Big West player. UC Santa Barbara’s Alyssa Marin met the mark with 31 points at UC Davis on Feb. 1.
Cal Poly’s Natalia Ackerman enjoyed the most efficient game in The Big West on Dec. 9, going a perfect 9-for-9 from the field for 20 points in 20 minutes against Fresno State. Julia Riley of Cal State Bakersfield swished 7-for-7 attempts from distance on Feb. 15 in a win against CSUN. Savannah Tucker went 11-for-11 from the line as Long Beach State hosted No. 6 USC on Dec. 21.
Katie Springs of UC San Diego leapt to the top line in rebounds with 20 in the win against Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 6, also setting a UCSD program record in the Division I era.
Annika Shah of Cal Poly posted the first 10-assist game of the season in a Feb. 22 win against Cal State Fullerton. Five seven-steal performances and a trio of six-block efforts lead the pack on the year.
Team Toppers
UC Davis eclipsed the 100-point mark on Nov. 6 in the season opener, downing Academy of Art, 102-52, with a Big West season-best of 29 assists. UC Santa Barbara surpassed the century mark on Dec. 20, doubling up Life Pacific in the 107-52 win while shooting a Big-West single-game best .623 (43-for-69).
UC Riverside recorded 22 steals in a win against Long Beach State on Jan. 6 and the Beach picked CSUN’s pocket 22 times on Feb. 17 to top the charts. UC San Diego owns the highest rebounding tally with 59 against Life Pacific on Nov. 8. UC Davis finished with a season-best 10 blocks in a win over UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 1.
1K Club Kids
Six women currently boast four-digit career scoring marks in NCAA Division I play: Evanne Turner of UC Davis (1,552 points); Cal State Fullerton’s Fujika Nimmo (transfer from FIU - 1,385 total points) & Diaba Konate of UC Irvine (1,268 total points), who started her collegiate career at Idaho State. This season, three players have joined the club: UC Riverside’s Jordan Webster (1,171 points), Hawai’i junior Lily Wahinekapu (1,103) and most recently Rainbow Wahine Daejah Phillips (1,041).
Notably, UC San Diego’s Denali Pinto came to the Tritons after an illustrious four-year career at Division II Colorado School of Mines. Pinto scored 1,652 points for the Orediggers, holding the program record, and was twice named RMAC Player of the Year. The graduate student from Boulder, Colo., currently has 1,974 career points as a collegian which rates 36th nationally among all three divisions of NCAA women’s basketball. Pinto needs just 26 points to reach the 2,000 plateau as a collegian and four games left in the 2023-24 season.
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