As Rejane Verin stood at the free-throw line, the crowd of 623 stood in silence with their finger-constructed “R’s” raised in unison. The first one is up … and good. The silence is broken. The second one follows suit. The crowd erupts.
Those two clutch free throws gave the first-ranked UC Riverside women’s basketball team their biggest lead of Saturday’s matchup against second-place Hawaii and ultimately helped seal their 15th consecutive win and second Big West regular season title in the history of the program.
Game of the year? Quite possibly.
Verin’s free throws came near the end of a back-and-forth game which was ultimately the Highlanders’ most hard-fought of this conference season, one where Hawaii dominated from the earlygoing and where UCR found themselves down by their biggest halftime deficit of Big West play this year (seven). In truth, it was the first game this season where it seemed fair to question the Highlanders’ stakes. UCR was not only outmatched physically by the Rainbow Wahine but, with only seven players in the rotation, their ability to sustain energy became a real question mark.
Nevertheless, in a game that saw four lead changes in the final quarter of play, UCR managed to put together an incredibly resilient effort. The team stormed back to capture the lead in the third period before closing the game as they so often have this year, wreaking pure havoc defensively and forcing turnovers to create easy buckets on their end.
Now, UCR sits comfortably atop the Big West at 14-0 in the conference and 21-7 overall on the year. Yet this season has the potential to yield accomplishments beyond the conference and rather on the national stage where UCR is currently 53rd in Rating Percentage Index (RPI) — a number sure to rise after Saturday’s victory — and projected to land an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament.
Saturday’s game proved to be the most exhilarating moment along an already magical season in which the team has broken records with sheer regularity. And with two games remaining in the regular season, they have another opportunity to do so.
Twenty three. That is the number they need to earn the most regular season wins in program history and if the Highlanders manage to win out against UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton this week — something that the oh, last 14 consecutive games have suggested they can certainly do — they will entrench an already unforgettable team and season even deeper into the UC Riverside record books.
Yet, for them, all that is just noise. Surely, the bevy of accomplishments are great, but it is this group’s ability to play within the moment that perhaps remains their most admirable trait. Head coach John Margaritis consistently stresses the importance of the old “one game at a time” philosophy and this mentality has resonated with a UCR squad that brings a consistently hard-fought effort game-to-game.
Therefore, as of now, UCR is focused simply on notching another win in Irvine on Thursday and allowing the accomplishments to pile up involuntarily as they so often have in this unprecedented season.
