Matadors Journey to San Diego State for Non-Convention Bout with Aztecs

NORTHRIDGE, Calif — The CSUN ladies’s basketball crew (2-0) will embark on its first highway journey of the season when it heads all the way down to San Diego to tackle the San Diego State Aztecs (1-1) at Viejas Arena at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow evening. The recreation can be livestreamed on the Mountain West Network.

ABOUT LAST WEEK
CSUN Women’s Basketball opened its 2025–26 season by profitable its first two video games towards Bethesda (Tuesday) and the University of San Diego (Saturday). Both video games had been at Premier America Credit Union Arena.

CSUN kicked off the brand new season with a commanding 103-13 victory towards Bethesda. That margin of victory for the Matadors was the biggest of their historical past at 90 factors. CSUN beat the outdated report that stood since February 3, 1977 towards UC Irvine.

Sophomore Laini Dahlin got here off the bench to steer CSUN with 19 factors, together with 5 three-pointers within the fourth quarter. Rita Nazario added 13 factors on 5-of-7 taking pictures, whereas Maya Contreras posted a double-double with 13 factors and 10 rebounds. A complete of 12 completely different Matadors scored within the win.

On Saturday, CSUN continued its profitable methods with a victory over the San Diego Toreros. Nazario led the best way with 21 factors together with a red-hot 67% taking pictures from behind the arc, going 6-9 on the evening. In complete she went 7-12 from the sector. Jite Gbemuotor scored in double figures for the primary time in her collegiate profession as she scored 11 on 4-6 taking pictures.

USD led by two with 9:57 left within the first quarter, and that may be its final lead as CSUN was in management for many of the recreation. CSUN held USD to solely 17 factors within the second half. The win marked CSUN’s first victory over USD since 2000, snapping a 13-game skid within the collection. CSUN has now began 2-0 for the third consecutive yr.

HI, I’M NEW HERE
A complete of 10 newcomers make up this season’s roster, that is 67 % of the crew. Of the ten newcomers, six are transfers. In an interview with the Big West in the course of the convention preview on Oct. 17, coach Ned emphasised utilizing the switch portal to construct items for a profitable program within the offseason.

Using the portal is one thing that each crew does within the new age of faculty sports activities, and CSUN has taken benefit of it. The transfers embody Jite Gbemuotor (Ole Miss), Maya Contreras (New Mexico Junior College), Mariona Cos-Morales (Rider University), Rita Nazario (Saint Louis), Nadia Bernard (Saint Mary’s) and Saray White (Cosumnes River College).

To be a part of the transfers on the squad are 4 freshmen: Amya Moody, Norret Lewis, Heather Stedman and Jana Canadell.

MORGAN EDWARDS – THE TEAM LEADER
Morgan Edwards has made a direct influence on the Matadors since taking part in her first yr as a junior final season after transferring from Cal State Bakersfield. Last season, she led the Matadors in discipline objectives made at 83.

Edwards additionally scored in double figures in 15 video games whereas scoring over 20 factors on two completely different events (22 towards California Baptist (12/11/24) and 21 towards Cal State Fullerton (01/02/25)). She averaged 8.8 factors per recreation and 30.3 minutes per recreation, each second on the crew.  Edwards began in essentially the most video games out of any participant a yr in the past.

SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE
The Aztecs are coming off a 95-35 win over Cal State San Marcos of their residence opener Saturday. SDSU is 1-1 on the season. Through two video games, SDSU is averaging 10.5 made three-pointers per recreation. The Aztecs had been picked to complete second within the Mountain West in accordance with the convention’s preseason ballot.

San Diego State went 25-10 final yr and received the Mountain West Tournament championship to advance to its first NCAA Tournament since 2012.

The Aztecs are powerful at residence. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, SDSU is 38-12 in residence video games. Naomi Panganiban, a sophomore guard for the Aztecs, runs the offense. She has 9 assists and one turnover to this point this season. Nat Martinez, one other sophomore guard, is the one Aztec to attain in double-figures for each of the video games performed this season.

SERIES HISTORY
SDSU leads the all-time collection at 10-5. SDSU is 6-2 at residence towards the Matadors. The final recreation performed between these two groups was on Dec. 28, 2019, which resulted in a 74-69 win for CSUN in time beyond regulation.