The two top WBB teams in the Big West square off 7 pm Thursday night at the Bren Events Center in Anaheim when the Aggies travel to SoCal to start conference play. The Aggies, who raced out to a 9-0 start, have lost 3 of their last 4 games and have dropped from as high as #5 in the Women's BB Mid Major Poll to #12 in the most recent ranking. The Aggies have won the last 5 meetings between these two clubs but Irvine has made good progress this year and is off to one of it's best starts in years.

The two teams have played several common opponents: UCI beat Pepperdine 75-74 and the Ags beat the Waves 69-64, the Eaters lost to Portland State 82-76 in OT while the Aggies won 79-67 over the Vikings, the Ags crushed SUU 85-59 and UCI beat them 71-64, and, lastly, the Anteaters won at Seattle 84-79 and the Ags dispatched the Redhawks 79-53.

The Anteaters present a unique problem for the Aggie defense. They average 70.1 ppg but do not have a single player averaging double figures. Instead, their scoring is spread out over 10 players averaging 5.3 to 8.3 ppg. The Eaters are able to substitute freely and get good production from their bench so the Aggie defense will have to play solid against everyone on the floor at any given time.

After the Aggies loss last week in the Bronx to Fordham, Aggie coach, Jen Gross, said that her team did not play well consistently enough to get the win. After suffering their third loses in their last 4 games she said that now is the time for the team to take a moment and reflect on their goals and who they want to be. The Ags are a talented basketball team but a little shine has come off the apple lately and good teams are finding ways to make things very tough for them. Tonight's game will be a good test of their character and resolve to get back to their winning ways.

Live online stream from Big West TV: http://www.bigwest.org/tv/

Go Ags!