On Thursday, Jan. 2, the University of California, Riverside (UCR) women’s basketball team hosted California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). These two teams last met during the 2024 Big West Playoffs.
Despite entering that game as the no. 7 seed, CSULB knocked off a very strong no. 3 seed Highlanders team that featured All-Big West First Team guard Jordan Webster and Second Team forward Matehyha Bryant in overtime. It was a crushing loss for a UCR team that had aspirations of winning the Big West Championship.
The Highlanders have since lost both Webster and Bryant. However, UCR returned core players like senior forward Esther Matarranz and junior guard Makayla Rose, who scored a career-high 25 points in that game. Add in a pair of transfers from Northern Colorado, junior guard Shelley Duchemin and graduate guard Seneca Hackley. Head coach Brad Langston has another very talented group this season.
The team’s talent delivered during the Big West Bold Week as the Highlanders picked up wins against California State University, Northridge and California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). Without Webster, it was expected that the team’s offense would take a step back, but UCR has disproved that so far. Rose and Duchemin have been especially hot offensively as both junior guards put up double digits in both games.
Like the Highlanders, the Beach have also started Big West play strong. Earning wins against CSUF and Hawaii thanks to the efforts of the Big West Player of the Week for those games, senior guard Savannah Tucker.
In Thursday’s contest, Tucker kept the momentum rolling with six of CSULB’s 10 first-quarter points. The Highlanders looked to get sharpshooter Hannah Wickstrom going early. Good ball movement from UCR got the freshman guard open looks from behind the arc, but Wickstrom’s attempts kept bouncing off the back rim.
Meanwhile, Duchemin looked to attack the basket when she had the ball. Matched up with Mykelle Richards, Duchemin looked to use her speed to blow by the freshman forward. Duchemin found success going to the rim and pulling up a mid-range jumper.
Credit to Richards, she fought back in the second quarter after a rough start to the game. Giving UCR a taste of their own medicine, Richards attacked the rim in the half-court and on the fast break as the Beach took a 27-24 lead going into halftime.
The Beach started quickly in the second half. A corner triple by Richards followed by a Tucker runner and a bankshot from sophomore forward Jada Crenshaw extended the lead to double digits.
Down by 10 points, Langston looked to raise the intensity by employing a full-court press. This clearly lit a fire under Rose. She made a couple of layups before drilling a corner 3-pointer to snatch the momentum back in favor of the Highlanders. Later in the third quarter, Rose showed off the shooter’s touch as her elbow jumper bounced in and cut the lead to just one point.
With CSULB on the back foot, Tucker stepped up in the fourth quarter. She scored six straight points as CSULB’s suffocating defense stifled the Highlanders. Rose finally ended the drought with an acrobatic layup with just four minutes left in the game.
Outscoring the Highlanders 15-6 in the fourth quarter, the Beach would take this one 63-48 behind Tucker’s 22 and Richards’s 14 points.
After falling flat in the fourth quarter, the Highlanders responded in a big way against the defending Big West champions on Saturday. Defeating the University of California, Irvine 59-54 and improving to 3-1 in the Big West.
This week, the Highlanders make the long road trip to take on the University of Hawaii on Thursday. Last year, the two teams split the season series. Led by senior guards Lily Wahinekapu and Daejah Phillips, the Rainbow Wahine will prove to be another tough test for UCR.
