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LIVE AUDIOHSU SOCIAL MEDIATWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM ARCATA, Calif. – After it claimed round one last weekend, Humboldt State looks to continue its current winning streak and sweep the Cal State San Bernardino season series Saturday.
For the second time in eight days and back-to-back contests, the Lumberjacks play the Coyotes. This week's edition moves south to San Bernardino and tips at 5 p.m.
Last Saturday, HSU (7-1) won its sixth game in a row with the 60-50 victory over Cal State San Bernardino (6-1).
"(Cal State) San Bernardino is a really good team that has very balanced scoring and multiple weapons, so I think that it was a hard fought game between two good teams," said HSU Head Coach
Joddie Gleason. "We defended really well, especially down the stretch. They attempted to make their run in the last five minutes and we made play after play to prevent them from executing their sets that they wanted to run. I felt like had they scored during any of those possessions down the stretch, it would've had a different feel."
The California Collegiate Athletic Association travel partners complete their season series only eight days after the opening meeting last Saturday night. What challenges or advantages will the teams have playing in such a short time span this week?
"The scout is easy, let me tell you that," said Gleason. "It is tough. It's tough to prepare and stay focused for the same opponent again when you know we're essentially talking about the same things, the same matchups and the same rotations, but we'll have to watch the film a little more in depth and see what kind of things we need to tweak for this week's game."
For HSU, Gleason and the team have another challenge in rematch preparations. This week is Finals Week on the Arcata campus.
"It does (present challenges for us). We give the kids a lot of time off in the beginning of the week," said the HSU coach. "Then there are class conflicts during practice with finals being two hours and occupying some time, so we noticed some conflicts. And then the travel, so we are essentially off Monday and Friday as far as practice goes and some shortened down days on Tuesday."
AIM TO CONTINUE WINNING RUN In Gleason's 11 years, her team's current six-game win streak rates as the second longest of her tenure. The current winning run is the longest since the 2008-09 squad ran off 10 in a row from Feb. 6 to Mar. 6, 2009. In the 10-game run, the Jacks prevailed at Cal State San Bernardino in both the regular season meeting (69-51 in fifth game of the run on Feb. 20) and the CCAA Tournament matchup (67-57 on Mar. 6 as the final win in the streak).
HSU also has an impressive 13.7-point per game scoring margin in its six-game win streak. The Jacks have won each of the six games by no less than 10 points. HSU's season-opening victory came by 10 points, as well, for a 13.1 ppg margin in its seven season wins.
The Jacks have not had any of their eight games decided by less than nine points. The squad's lone defeat was a nine-point overtime difference at Seattle Pacific in game two.
OPEN CCAA WITH THREE WINS FOR SECOND TIME For the second time in nine seasons since joining the CCAA, HSU started the league schedule with a 3-0 record.
The Jacks' best CCAA start came in 2009-10. The team rattled off wins in the first seven contests, before it finished 14-8 on the year.
TRY FOR SECOND SWEEP IN A ROW HSU edged ahead of Cal State San Bernardino, 10-9, in the all-time series with last Saturday's win.
The Jacks can continue the trend of season sweeps in the series with the Coyotes this weekend.
Over the last six seasons, the Jacks-Coyotes series has been all sweeps of the two league contests. HSU swept four of the last six season series including both meetings a year ago (73-61 in Arcata and 61-51 in San Bernardino). The Jacks also claimed season sweeps in 2011-12, 2009-10 and 2008-09.
The Coyotes produced a pair of 2012-13 victories (42-41 in Arcata and 63-50 at San Bernardino), their last wins in the series. Cal State San Bernardino also won both 2010-11 season matchups and the CCAA playoff meeting along with the 2006-07 contests.
In 2007-08, each team won in its home floor as the lone season split over the past eight years.
SIXTH WIN IN COUSSOULIS ARENA IN SIGHTS HSU has its sixth win at Cal State San Bernardino's Coussoulis Arena in its sights. The Jacks hold a 5-4 overall record in the Coyotes' home. HSU has won two of the past three contests in the building including last year's 61-51 decision on Jan. 31, 2014.
BOTH TEAMS RECEIVING NATIONAL CONSIDERATION HSU and Cal State San Bernardino are amongst the CCAA teams receiving NCAA Division II national-ranking consideration.
Both squads rate in the Others Receiving Votes list of the USA TODAY DII Top 25 Coaches Poll. The
Jacks received a season-high 40 points and the Coyotes garnered 30 points. Cal Poly Pomona had 77 points as the highest CCAA total..
In the inaugural D2SIDA Women's Basketball Division II Media Poll, Cal State San Bernardino is ranked No. 22 with 91 votes and third in the West Region. HSU is rated seventh in the West Region.
SHARING THE BALL AND NOT GIVING IT UP HSU has been in the Christmas spirit of sharing the basketball, while successfully not giving it up.
The Jacks maintain the CCAA's second-best assists per game (16.2 apg), while they commit only 14.1 turnovers per night, third fewest in the league.
In five of the first eight contests, HSU finished with more assists than turnovers. The Jacks posted a season-high 20 assists against both Western Washington and San Francisco State. The squad committed a low 10 turnovers against Dominican.
Senior point guard
Kersey Wilcox leads the team's offense. Wilcox leads the CCAA with 42 total assists and a 5.2 assists per game average.
PURYEAR SPARK OFF THE BENCH Junior transfer
Neika Puryear is a spark off the HSU bench this season.
Puryear was a key reason the Jacks rallied from down nine points early last Saturday. The point/shooting guard netted 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting including 2-for-3 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes.
For the game, Puryear totaled 14 points, hit all four free throws, grabbed two rebounds, stole three passes and assisted on another bucket.
In six games, Puryear is fourth on the team with an 8.2-point average and made 5-of-11 3-point tries.
FOSTER POSTS BIG SECOND HALF After a slow first half,
A'Jaee Foster came alive in a big way over the final 20 minutes last Saturday against Cal Sate San Bernardino.
Following two free first half free throws and one rebound, Foster poured in 13 second period points and pulled down three rebounds to lead the Jacks to the victory.
On the night, Foster finished with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting and four boards.
The junior forward continues to average a double-double of 13.1 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.
SCOUTING CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO: • Coached by Renee Jimenez – in her second year directing the Coyotes. She has a 15-17 record over her first 32 games.
Jimenez moved down to San Bernardino after leading Cal State Monterey Bay for five years (2008-13). She took the Otters to one CCAA regular season and tournament title along with three NCAA tournament appearances
• Coyotes had their best start in program history by winning their first six games.
• Won all 6 games in the start by an average margin of 12 points.
• Claimed victories over Sonoma State (70-52) and San Francisco State (64-53) in its first two CCAA matchups.
• Trail HSU at 11-8 in the 19 meetings
• HSU holds a 10-8 edge since were CCAA programs. The teams split two CCAA playoff meetings.
• Lead the CCAA in points allowed per game (59.1 ppg) and defensive rebounds per game (31.1 rpg)
• Rates eighth in league scoring (68.0 ppg)
• All-CCAA Alexcia Mack leads the team with a 13.0 ppg average. She is second in CCAA with a .500 3-point percentage (9-for-18) and tenth in assists per game (3.1 apg)
• F Brianna Harden is second in CCAA rebounding (10.4 rpg) and defensive rebounding (10.4 ppg)
• F Adriana Brodie is league's top offensive rebounder (4.3 rpg) and fifth in overall rebounding (8.0 rpg)
-GoJacks-