Tipping Off
Celebrating Officials' Appreciation Week
As part of the celebration of Officials' Appreciation Week, Big West Women’s Basketball Coordinator of Officials Violet Palmer sat down with Chloe Clark to reflect on a remarkable career, to date. Palmer shared some of the steps in the journey from Compton to Cal Poly Pomona as a Division II national champion. Trading playing shoes and layup lines for the Broncos for the whistle and running the baselines on professional courts around the country, Palmer reached the pinnacle of the profession and is now training others to follow in those footsteps. Read more >>>
What 2 Watch 4
League-leading UC Irvine (15-2, 6-0 BW) has a single-game week while putting a 14-game winning streak and 8-0 home record on the line Saturday, taking on UC Davis (11-5, 4-1 BW). The last time the Anteaters and Aggies met up was in the semifinal round of the 2025 Big West Championship in Henderson, Nev., where UC Davis secured the 63-56 victory in wire-to-wire fashion. It broke a four-game string for UCI in the series.
UC Davis, tied for third in The Big West standings, opens the week at Cal State Fullerton (8-8, 4-2 BW), who are just a half game back. The Titans need just one more league win to match their 2024-25 tally under the direction of first-year head coach John Bonner.
The Anteaters are joined by defending champion UC San Diego (10-5, 50 BW) as the final two teams unbeaten in conference play. The Tritons play on the road at CSUN before heading home to host Cal State Bakersfield on the week.
Every Big West home contest appears on ESPN+ throughout the season. Check listings for specific game information.
The Big West in the Rankings
Two Big West schools are listed in the latest College Insider Women’s Basketball Mid-Major Top 25 poll, with UC Santa Barbara landing in 11th and UC Irvine holding firm to 14th.
Four teams and various players find themselves in the top 10 of the NCAA Division I women’s basketball statistical rankings, in various categories. UC Santa Barbara earns distinction in three pointers, swishing at a rate of 37.9 percent (8th) while allowing opponents to connect 21.8 percent of the time, first in NCAA Division I. UC Irvine is automatic from the line, with 18.65 free throws per game (3rd) while shooting 81.3 percent from the stripe (2nd). Defensively, Cal State Fullerton is disrupting the flow by forcing 29.06 turnovers per game (1st) and compiling 17.2 steals per game (2nd) to create chaos for the Titans’ opponents. Hawai’i is swatting 6.2 attempts per game to land in 8th nationally in blocking average.
Last Week, Today
Eight squads recorded at least one victory last week with some notable highlights including:
UC Irvine (15-2, 6-0 BW)
The Anteaters extended the program record winning streak to 14 after wins at Long Beach State in the Black-Blue Rivalry and a gutsy 50-47 victory against Hawai’i. Big West Player of the Week Hunter Hernandez notched a pair of 20-point games and scored 14 of the 20 against the Rainbow Wahine in the second half to help erase a deficit to keep their streak alive and stay unbeaten at home on the season. Jada Wynn scored UCI’s last five points against UH, with the turnaround jumper with 20.7 seconds icing the contest.
UC San Diego (10-5, 5-0 BW)
The Tritons kept the unbeaten record in league action with wins at Cal State Fullerton and against UC Riverside. Junior Erin Condron averaged 16.5 points on an efficient 57.7 percent from the field, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 2.0 assists on the week. Condron’s 22 points were coupled with 12 rebounds in Saturday’s 70-54 win over the Highlanders.
UC Davis (11-5, 4-1 BW)
The Aggies split their home week with a 55-47 loss against UC Santa Barbara before rebounding for the 87-61 victory over Cal Poly. Senior center Megan Norris averaged a 13.5-point, 13.0 rebound double-double for the week, pulling down a career-high 18 boards against the Gauchos. In Saturday’s win, Norris finished the contest with 15 points in 19 minutes of action, all in the first half.
UC Santa Barbara (12-2, 4-1 BW)
The Gauchos downed UC Davis on their home turf to give second-year head coach Renee Jimenez a milestone win, a 300th career victory for the second-year head coach. Jimenez’ career spans 17 seasons and four stops, with nearly half of the successes coming during an eight year stint at Division II Cal State San Marcos. Zoe Borter’s 17 points in a full 40 minutes led all scorers as UCSB’s lone game of the week.
UC Riverside (5-10, 3-2 BW)
Hannah Wickstrom powered the Highlanders to a 66-42 win over Cal State Bakersfield with 24 points, four rebounds and three steals on Thursday. For the second-straight game Wickstrom finished 11-for-11 from the line.
Cal State Fullerton (8-8, 4-2 BW)
The Titans split the week, pushing Big West unbeaten UC San Diego to overtime before falling by 12 on Thursday before following it up with a 15-point road win at CSUN. Cristina Jones led the Titans and nearly finished with a triple double after posting 20 points, nine rebounds and eight steals against the Matadors. Jones also committed eight thefts against the Tritons.
Cal State Bakersfield (6-10, 1-5 BW)
The Roadrunners secured their first league win on Saturday, dispatching Long Beach State 75-48 on the home court. Maria Dias delivered 14 points, four rebounds, two steals and an assist in 24 minutes on the court.
CSUN (6-9, 2-4 BW)
Jite Gbemuotor was instrumental in CSUN win over Cal Poly as the sophomore posted career-highs of 16 points and 15 rebounds to go along with three steals in the 77-68 decision.
Non-Conference Notables
• UC Davis set a program attendance record in their home win against Idaho, with 5,567 fans on hand.
• Cal State Fullerton broke a 34-year-old program scoring record on Dec. 28, downing La Sierra 110-22 to best the previous high point tally (108) set on March 7 1991.
• Cal State Bakersfield’s 85 points scored in a win over Eastern Washington on Dec. 20 stands as the most points against a Division I opponent since the 2018-19 season.
• Title winners! UC Irvine won the Great Alaska Shootout with victories over Bowling Green and St. Thomas Nov. 21-22, with Jada Wynn named most outstanding player. Hawai’i took home the crown at the Bank of Hawai’i Classic on Nov. 21-23 as Ritorya Tamilo earned MVP honors. UC Santa Barbara took home the hardware at the CBU Invitational with wins over the host Lancers and Chattanooga over Thanksgiving week.
Welcome to The Big West
New head coach at Cal State Fullerton John Bonner heads to the Titans after a Division II national runner-up season with Cal State Dominguez Hills. Bonner boasts the only two 30-win seasons in Toreros’ program history including a record 36 victories in 2024-25 and was twice named CCAA Coach of the Year.
GET TOUGH!
The Big West has announced the return of its Tough Like Tammy fundraising initiative for the 2025-26 women’s basketball season and the goal of securing a $50,000 grant from the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
The joint venture between Big West women’s basketball, the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and Big West women’s basketball analyst Tammy Blackburn, has raised more than $25,000 in support life-saving research on all cancers affecting women since its inception in 2023. The effort in 2025-26 revolves around securing a $50,000 grant to assist women in underserved communities in southern California. Currently, the Tough Like Tammy program stands over 65% of the way towards reaching the goal and fans can donate today at BigWest.org/TLT. Learn more >>>
Additionally The Big West recently announced its nation-leading nine recipients of the Kay Yow Servant Leader Award, who will be sporting a jersey patch all season long for exemplifying leadership, selflessness and service in the fight against all cancers affecting women. Meet the servant leaders >>>
Hoops in Henderson
The Big West announced an enhanced agreement with Credit Union 1, the Official Credit Union, Bank and Financial Services Partner of The Big West, to become the title partner of the 2026 Big West Basketball Championships, March 11-14, 2026, at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev. All-Session tickets are available now! Learn more >>>
Watch Us Work
Building on one of the most successful men’s and women’s seasons since the 1990’s, The Big West has announced that more than 350 men’s and women’s basketball games will be available nationally on the ESPN family of networks and Spectrum SportsNet during 2025-26 season. All Big West men’s and women’s basketball home games and all seven games of the 2026 Credit Union I Big West Women’s Basketball Championship will stream nationally on ESPN+. Additionally, The Big West will continue its regional partnership with Spectrum SportsNet for the fifth consecutive season. Five women’s contests are part of the 14-game Spectrum SportsNet package with Long Beach State, UC San Diego, Hawai’i, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly each slated to appear. Learn more >>>
2024-25 Season Rewind
The Big West is coming off a season of parity where four teams reached the 20-win mark: Hawai’i (22-10), UC Irvine (21-10), UC Davis (21-12) and UC San Diego (20-16). The Big West Championship was won by No. 4 seed UC San Diego, who bested third-seeded UC Davis in the finale from Henderson. Regular-season champion Hawai’i was nipped at the buzzer in the semifinals, dropping their game to the eventual champions.
Winning both The Big West men’s and women’s titles to earn NCAA qualification in their first year of eligibility, UC San Diego is the first school in NCAA Division I history to accomplish that feat.
Preseason Prognostications
In yet another vote with the slimmest of margins, Hawai’i was selected to win the 2025-26 Big West women’s basketball crown in a vote of The Big West’s 11 head coaches. It is the fourth consecutive season that the Rainbow Wahine have landed atop the preseason voting.
Hawai’i received 91 total points and four first-place votes after last year’s regular-season championship. UC Irvine, picked to finish second in the polling in consecutive seasons, landed just one point shy of UH, compiling 90 points with four first-place votes. UC Davis and UC San Diego are slotted in third and fourth, also earning the top nods on the ballot in what looks to be a four-team race to the crown.
Two Rainbow Wahine find themselves on the Preseason All-Big West Team in lone returning senior Imani Perez and reigning Big West Freshman of the Year Ritorya Tamilo. Skylar Burke (UC Santa Barbara), Erin Condron (UC San Diego), Shelley Duchemin (UC Riverside), Hunter Hernandez (UC Irvine) and Megan Norris (UC Davis) round out the Preseason Coaches Team. See the complete poll and read more about the team here >>>
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