WBB11/30/2018 7:55 PM | By: Cal Athletics
Back At Haas
Cal Hosts CSUN Sunday Afternoon In Second Home Game Of The Season
BERKELEY –The Cal women's basketball team returns to Berkeley for its first home game in nearly a month, hosting CSUN at 2 p.m. PT on Sunday at Haas Pavilion. The Golden Bears (6-0, 0-0 Pac-12) opened the 2018-19 season with an 80-79 home victory over Houston, but have played their five most recent games away from Berkeley. Ranked No. 15 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll, the Bears are unbeaten through their first six games of the season and are coming off a sweep at the San Diego Thanksgiving Tournament.
The Bears will be taking on a Matadors squad on a win streak of its own, winning back to back games and three of its last four outings overall. CSUN (4-4, 0-0 Big West) knocked off Pac-12 foe Washington State, 65-52, on November 23 and is in the midst of a stretch three games in the span of five days.
Sunday's game between the Bears and Matadors features two of the most dominant post players in the nation in Cal's Kristine Anigwe and CSUN's Channon Fluker. Both seniors stand at 6-4 and are candidates for the 2019 Lisa Leslie Award, presented to the top center in the nation.
The reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week and a candidate for the 2019 National Player of the Year, Anigwe is off to a dominant start, posting a double-double in all six games this season. The Phoenix, Arizona product is the only player in Division I basketball this season ranked in the Top 10 in both scoring and rebounding. Anigwe is averaging 24.0 points per game this season to go with 14.2 rebounds per game, and is coming off a 25-point, 16-rebound performance her last time out against San Diego. Anigwe enters Sunday's game with 1,993 career points, seven shy of becoming just the third player in Cal Basketball history – male or female - to score 2,000 career points.
Fluker, the reigning Big West Player and Defensive Player of the Year, also has six double-doubles on the season and has a total of 61 in her collegiate career, the most by any active player in Division I women's basketball. Fluker is averaging 16.9 points and 13.3 rebounds per game this season, and is coming off a 27-point, 20-rebound performance on Friday afternoon against Santa Clara.
Sunday's game will be the eighth meeting all-time between the Golden Bears and Matadors and the first since December 30, 2015, when Cal won 106-44 in Berkeley. Anigwe, then a freshman, led the Bears with 30 points on 13-17 shooting in the second 30-point effort of her collegiate career.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Sunday's game against the Matadors be viewed on the Pac-12 live stream, with live stats also available. Fans can receive additional in-game updates and behind-the-scenes information by following the Bears social media accounts (Twitter: @CalWBBall, Instagram: @CalWBBall).
SCOUTING THE MATADORS
CSUN enters Sunday's game having won its last two games and three of the last four overall. After back-to-back losses to start the season, the Matadors picked up their first win of the year on the road, beating Omaha, 64-52. After a ten-point loss at Drake, CSUN overcame a 14-point first half deficit to down Washington State, 65-52, on the opening day of the Warner Center Marriott Thanksgiving Basketball Classic. The Matadors outscored the Cougars 21-9 in the fourth quarter and were paced by 24 points and 14 rebounds from Fluker. CSUN fell to Harvard in the tournament championships game, but responded with back-to-back wins over California Baptist and Santa Clara.
Fluker leads the Matadors in scoring (16.9 points per game), rebounding (13.3 rebounds per game), and field goal percentage (46.9 percent) this season. The Pasadena-native scored 16 of her game-high 27 points in the second half of Friday's win over Santa Clara, going 8-11 from the floor over the final two quarters.
Sophomore guard Meghann Henderson added seven assists, six points, and six rebounds against the Broncos and is averaging 4.0 assists per game on the season. Redshirt senior Serafina Maulupe, who began her collegiate career at Virginia Tech, is second on the team in scoring at 9.0 points per game and is shooting 31.3 percent (15-48) from three-point range this season.
Head coach Jason Flowers is in his ninth season with the Matadors and returns all five starters from last season's squad that went 19-16 and won the Big West Tournament. CSUN has made three trips to the NCAA Tournament under Flowers, including falling to eventual national champion Notre Dame, 99-81, in the First Round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
UP NEXT
Cal's next game will take the Bears through the Caldecott Tunnel for a meeting with local rival Saint Mary's at 2 p.m. PT on Saturday, December 8. The Bears and Gales have met each of the last three seasons, with Cal winning the two most recent matchups. Saint Mary's is 4-2 to start the season and 2-1 playing at home, its lone loss at McKeon Pavilion coming in a 79-55 defeat to No. 3 Oregon on November 24. Cal is 3-0 on the road this season and beat Saint Mary's, 74-67, in its last trip to Moraga.
2018-19 TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW
Season, group and single-game tickets for the 2018-19 women's basketball season are now on sale. Season tickets start as low as $40 ($2.67 per game, 15 home games) for youth and seniors and $80 ($5.33 per game, 15 home games) for adult general admission tickets. Single-game tickets are available starting at $4 for youth and seniors and $5 for adult, while group rates begin at $3 per seat for groups of 10 or more. Flex and partial plans are also available purchase. For more information, call the Gold Standard Sales and Service line at (800) GO BEARS (462-3277) or visit the CalBears.com ticket page.
JOIN THE JOURNEY: THE RETURN OF THISISCALBASKETBALL.COM
Cal's one-of-a-kind multimedia fan site, ThisIsCalBasketball.com, is back for its seventh season and once again features an unprecedented look into the inner workings of the personalities behind the Cal women's basketball's roster. Visitors to ThisIsCalBasketball.com can get an in-depth look at the personalities behind the jerseys, from action and portrait photos to bio videos and conversations between current players and alumnae.
STAY POSTED
Keep up-to-date on the latest Cal women's basketball news by following the Bears on social media. View behind-the-scenes photos and videos and learn more about Cal and its student-athletes on Twitter (@CalWBball), Instagram (@CalWBball) and Facebook (Facebook.com/CalWBball).
