COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• CSUSM is now ranked No. 20 in the latest WBCA Division II Top 25 Poll and No. 21 in the D2SIDA Top 25 Poll. 
• The Cougars saw their program-record 18-game win streak come to an end last Saturday.
• With the rest of the postseason games being deemed neutral games,  CSUSM's 11 consecutive road victories is the best streak in the program's 11-season history.
• Hackson reclaimed the top spot in the CCAA in scoring, averaging 15.9 points per game.
• Hackson joined CSUSM's 1,000-career point club against Cal State Monterey Bay on Jan. 29th. She is second in the record books with 1,147 points and is 70 points away from tying leader Cassie Damyanovich (2011-15).
• Hackson raised her CSUSM career total to 140 and is second all-time in the record books. In just her two years at CSUSM, Sarah Jackson (2011-13) recorded 147 steals.
• Earlier this season, Hackson became CSUSM's all-time career leader in made free throws and moved up to 265 made buckets at the charity stripe.
• The Cougars’ 1.08 assist-turnover ratio ranks on top of the CCAA and 30th in the nation.
• CSUSM continues to lead the CCAA and now ranks 38th in Division II in field-goal percentage at 43.9 
• The Cougars are dishing out a conference-leading 15.4 assists per game, ranking 39th in Division II.
• Two Cougars are ranked in the CCAA's top five in field-goal percentage with Vasquez the conference leader at 55.3%, followed by fourth-ranked Hackson at 44.9%. Vasquez is ranked 20th in the nation.
• Outscoring their opponents by 13.9 points per game, the Cougars have the best scoring margin in the CCAA and rank 22nd in the nation.
• The Cougars have been performing well at the free throw line this season with a conference-best 77.0%, good enough for 22nd in Division II. Hackson has a CCAA-leading 81.5 free-throw percentage. 
• Kelsey Forrester ranks 37th in the nation with a 39.9 3-point field-goal percentage and is second among CCAA shooters. 

NCAA WEST REGIONAL QUARTERFINAL AGAINST APU

• The two Cougars were slated to face each other in the opening round of the 2020 NCAA Division II West Regional in Honolulu, Hawaii, but the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like in 2022, CSUSM was slated to be the No. 4 seed and APU the No. 5 seed.
• The APU Cougars won the PacWest Conference regular-season title as well as the PacWest Conference tournament title, which gave them the automatic bid to the West Regional.
• In the conference tournament final, APU held Academy of Art to just a 28.6 field-goal percentage en route to a 60-49 victory over the Urban Knights.
• Kayla Shaw, the PacWest Conference Tournament MVP, tallied a game-high 17 points in the championship game. Joining Shaw from APU on the all-tournament team was Alex Lowden, Laura Pranger and Paige Uyehara. The other two spots on the team went to ART U's Milan Tuttle and Chanel Stuart.
• Like CSUSM, APU has lost only three games this season. At the CSUSM Hoops Classic, APU fell 73-57 to Western Washington in The Sports Center on Nov. 19. In their final month of the regular season, the APU Cougars dropped a 81-77 decision at home against Dominican on Feb. 11 before falling at Biola, 55-51, in their second-to-last game of the regular season.
• The two Cougars have only meet three times, and only twice since both teams moved to NCAA Division II. All three games have been played on a neutral court.
• In 2016-17 season, CSUSM collected a 79-61 win over APU in the UCSD Thanksgiving Classic. The following season, both teams returned to the same tournament and APU earned an 84-69 victory over CSUSM.
• The two teams met in CSUSM's inaugural season at the Biola Classic with then-No. 11 APU collecting a 76-59 win over CSUSM on Dec. 28, 2011. Both teams were members of the NAIA at that time.
• APU leads Division II in blocked shots per game, averaging 6.5 per game. Pranger is second in the nation with 89 total blocks this season.
• Shaw is second in the nation in 3-pointers per game with 3.44 and eighth in 3-point field-goal percentage at 43.7%.

POTENTIAL REGIONAL SEMIFINAL OPPONENTS

• Should the Cougars earn their first-ever NCAA Tournament win on Friday, CSUSM would advance to play top-seeded Cal State East Bay or eighth-seeded Academy of Art in the semifinals on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
• The Pioneers defeated CSUSM in the CCAA Tournament finals last Saturday, 80-66.
• CSUSM edged out CSUEB for the regular-season title after the Cougars ended with a .950 win percentage (19-1) to the Pioneers' .938 (15-1).
• The Pioneers are on a seven-game win streak with their last loss coming at the hands of CSUSM on Feb. 3. The Cougars defeated CSUEB 76-54 on the Pioneers' home court to even the season series at 1-1. Three Cougars registered double-digits in scoring with Jordan Vasquez leading the way with 20 points in addition to her 12 rebounds. Sydney Buckley chipped in 17 points and Akayla Hackson added 12.
• The Cougars are 6-8 in the all-time series against CSUEB and 3-3 when playing in Pioneer Gymnasium.
• If the Cougars play Academy of Art, it will be the first meeting between the two teams.
• The Urban Knights finished the regular season ranked third in the PacWest Conference standings with a 13-5 record.
• Against common opponents, Art U is 4-3 with a wins over Sonoma State (68-53), Cal State Monterey Bay (70-42) and two against Point Loma (68-60, 70-61). The Urban Knights recorded losses against Cal State East Bay (46-63), Stanislaus State (57-74) and Western Washington (43-57).