Cal State L.A. Athletics

LOS ANGELES – Cal State L.A.’s women’s basketball team will get a rare chance to host an exhibition game against an NCAA Division I program on Thursday when the UNLV Rebels come to town.

 

The Golden Eagles will host UNLV in an exhibition game Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Eagles Nest. Cal State L.A. will then play its second exhibition game in as many days when the Golden Eagles travel to Malibu to face Pepperdine on Friday at 4 p.m.

 

UNLV is a member of the Mountain West Conference and was picked to finish seventh in a pre-season poll of conference coaches. The Rebels will face another California Collegiate Athletic Association team, San Francisco State, on Nov. 9 in Las Vegas.

 

Cal State L.A. welcomes back 10 players from last year’s squad, including four redshirts who will be on the active roster this season. The Golden Eagles also welcome six newcomers who are expected to bolster the team.

 

The Golden Eagles struggled to a 5-22 season last year that included a 4-16 mark in California Collegiate Athletic Association play. Cal State L.A. finished its season with two wins in its last five contests, including a road win at Sonoma State in the final game of the year.

 

Shatori Dearman, a 6-1 junior from Grossmont College, shared the team-lead in scoring last season and leads the list of returning players. She averaged 9.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game and started in 15 of the team’s 27 games.

 

Junior Jazzi Johnson returns for her third year in the program after averaging 6.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Sophomores Jameiz Terrell, who started a team-high 25 games last season as a freshman and averaged 3.7 points and 2.0 rebounds per game and Sequoia Crandell, who appeared in 26 games with four starts and averaged 5.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, Desiree Dominguez, who appeared in 20 games and Lacie Jacobsen, who appeared in 19 games and started twice, are all back.

 

Four players who were redshirts last season, juniors Brionna Baker and Danielle Snyder and freshmen Sonia Miller and Martina Njoku, join the active roster this season.

 

The six newcomers include juniors Michelle Salemi, Megan Iloff, Jordan Kuzma, sophomores Stacie Whitley and Kelli McClintick and freshmen Demmi Nunn.

 

Cal State L.A. is a young team and will not have any seniors on the club.

Tuonisia Turner-Lewis returns for her third season with the Golden Eagles.

 

The Golden Eagles will face Concordia in their third and final exhibition game on Nov. 13 before opening the regular season with a California Collegiate Athletic Association game at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Nov. 18.

 

Cal State L.A.’s first regular-season home game isn’t until Dec. 12 against Academy of Art.