Inland college notes: California Baptist University women’s basketball team picked to finish second in the WAC
The preemptive NCAA Division I polls and all-conference teams have been released ahead of the 2024-25 college basketball season.
The California Baptist University women's basketball team, the reigning Western Athletic Conference regular season and conference tournament champion, has been picked to finish second this season behind Grand Canyon.
The Lancers, who qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history last season, were edged for the top spot in the poll despite both teams collecting four first-place votes.
Grand Canyon finished with 59 points, CBU with 58 points and UT-Arlington collected the final first-place vote and had 53 points.
The Lancers also did not land a player on the preseason All-WAC team while Moreno Valley native, Corona Centennial grad and former CBU standout Trinity San Antonio, returning for her second season at Grand Canyon after playing for Puerto Rico at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, was selected as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year.
After finishing 16-17 and falling in the conference quarterfinals last season, CBU's men's basketball team has been picked to finished fourth in the WAC.
The Lancers did not receive a first-place vote but senior guard Dominique Daniels, Jr., was selected to the Preseason All-WAC team.
In his first season in Riverside, Daniels led all WAC players in points (404) and set the Division I-era record for CBU for points in a single game (39), the seventh-highest single-game total in the NCAA last season.
Slotted to finish behind Grand Canyon, UT-Arlington and Seattle University, Daniels will lead a team this season with 10 newcomers and only five returning players.
The UC Riverside men's basketball team received one first-place vote but was picked to finish fourth behind UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego in the Big West Conference preseason poll, with conference freshman of the year Barrington Hargress landing on the Preseason All-Big West team.
Hargress led all Division I freshmen with a 3.14 assist-to-turnover ratio and was the Big West's only nominee and a finalist for the Kyle Macy Award, presented to the nation's top freshman.
The Highlanders women's basketball team, looking ahead to its second year under head coach Brad Langston, has been picked to finish eighth in the Big West this season.
At the top, Hawaii received six first-place votes and totaled 96 points. UC Irvine was second with five first-place votes and 95 points.
GONZALEZ SETS MARK
The UC Riverside men's soccer team has a new all-time leader in goalkeeper shutouts after the Highlanders refused to allow a goal last week.
Carlos Gonzalez, the 2022 Big West Co-Goalkeeper of the Year, passed Charles Amaro for the most clean sheets in school history with No. 17 after a 1-0 win at home against UC Irvine on Wednesday, Oct. 9, then added to his new record after a scoreless draw at Cal Poly on Saturday, Oct. 12.
The fifth-year senior garnered his third career Big West Defensive Player of the Week award for UC Riverside (3-5-3 overall), which hosts Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday at UCR Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m.
Senior Brenna Bell (Murrieta Valley) and junior Brooke McKee (Upland) helped lead the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's volleyball team to a recent four-set victory over rival Redlands.
Bell had 17 kills and McKee matched a career-high with 14 to pace the CMS offense in a 25-21, 25-20, 24-26, 25-11 win at Currier Gym on Saturday, Oct. 12.
Bell set a CMS single-season record with a .404 hitting percentage as a sophomore in 2022. McKee, the Baseline League MVP in 2021, has increased her kill totals each of the last two seasons.
TIGERS MAKING WAVES
The Riverside City College women's water polo team is currently the No. 2-ranked team in the state with a date against No. 1 at home this week.
The Tigers (20-1 overall, 4-0 Orange Empire) remain unbeaten in conference after a 11-7 victory over No. 6 Orange Coast on Wednesday, Oct. 9, and welcome in No. 1 Long Beach for a morning match on Friday at 8:30 a.m.
Freshman Yosra Elseifi is second in the OEC with 83 goals this season. Sophomores Nicole Robertson (Riverside King) and Abigail Ruiz (Riverside King) are currently tied for second on the team with 39 goals each.
Dennis Pope writes about Inland sports for The Southern California News Group. .
