Cal State San Bernardino's women's basketball team opens the 2023-24 season on Friday and Saturday, playing two games in the Cross Conference Tournament hosted by Biola University in La Mirada.
The Yotes will play Pacific West Conference teams Concordia University Irvine at 1 p.m. Friday and the host Biola team at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
CSUSB has several veteran players back from the 2022-23 team including guard
Destiny Jackson who averaged 13.4 points a game, 6-foot-1 past player
Mia Dufresne who led the CCAA conference in blocks (34) while averaging 8.4 points and 5.9 rebounds a game.
Jaida Jackson, who averaged 9.3 points and 3.0 assists per game is also back.
Also back is
Samantha Henley, who averaged 6.1 points per game with 76 assists and 36 steals.
Newcomers to the Yotes team include
Maxine Najera, a 5-10 junior transfer from Riverside City College where she averaged 10.5 points a game and 7.3 rebounds per game for the Tigers. She was an all-CIF Southern Section star at Hillcrest High School, leading her team to a 24-9 record. Rae McCray, a transfer from Cal Poly Humboldt, had a solid season at Yuba Community College, averaging 18 points and 12 rebounds a game.
Head Coach
Casandra Renno is starting her fifth season with the Yotes and her team produced the best record in 2022-23 since her arrival in 2019-20 with a 14-14 overall record and 9-13 in the CCAA. The CCAA coaches pre-season poll pegged the Yotes for an eighth-place finish in 2023-24.
Friday's opponent Concordia Irvine is coming off a 19-10 season, 14-6 in the Pac West. CUI made the finals of the conference tournament. CSUSB leads the all-time series against CUI 9-2.
Teagan Thurman, a 6-1 center, is the top returner for CUI, averaging 13.5 points, 7.3 rebounds with 49 steals.
Biola, like CSUSB, finished the 2022-23 season with a 14-14 record but were 13-7 in the Pac West Conference, good for fourth place. In 14 meetings with the Yotes, the two teams are tied at 7-7.
Laila Walker, a junior and graduate of Summit High School in Fontana, leads Biola. She averaged 12.4 points per game with 71 three-pointers, 89 assists, 37 steals and 102 rebounds to earn second-team all-Pac West honors.
Later this month, the Yotes head way up north to University of Alaska-Fairbanks to spend Thanksgiving weekend and participate in the McKinley Bank North Star Invitational on Nov. 24-25. They will play the host Nanooks on Friday and Multnomah University of Portland, Ore., on Saturday.
CSUSB will start CCAA conference play on Nov. 30 at Chico State followed by a visit to Cal Poly Humboldt on Dec. 2. The team's first home game will be Dec. 7 against Cal State East Bay in a CCAA game.
