ERIE, Pa—The Mercyhurst women's basketball team will travel on the road to take on PSAC opponent California (Pa.) on Saturday.

Who: Mercyhurst (8-10, 5-6) at California (Pa.) (16-1, 10-1)
When: Saturday, January 26th, 2019 (1:00 PM)
Where: California, Pa
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Previous Game

• Amber Renz scored 14 points and earned the Game Changer Award as the Mercyhurst women's basketball team defeated cross-town rival Gannon, 72-66, in a Porreco Pride of Erie matchup at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center on Wednesday. The game, which was sponsored by Bianchi Honda, was also a PSAC contest. Emily Shopene added 14 points and Kori Sidwell finished with 11 points for the Lakers (8-10, 5-6). Jenna Kunst grabbed nine rebounds.
• Mercyhurst trailed through much of the first half before going on a 14-4 run to take its first lead at 25-24 with 3:18 left in the first half. The Lakers eventually took a 31-29 advantage into halftime. After taking a 49-47 lead into the fourth quarter, the Lakers twice led by seven before Gannon used a 10-3 stretch to tie the contest at 59-59. Shopene then put the Lakers ahead for good with a pair of free throws before Renz buried a 3-pointer to widen the gap to 64-59. Mercyhurst went 8 of 8 from the free-throw line -- four by Rachel Chessar, two by Sidwell and two by Shopene -- during the final minute to hold off the Golden Knights.

Keys for Mercyhurst

• Coming off a huge win at home against Gannon to take the Porreco Cup, the Lakers will look to take their momentum on the road to California.
• MU as a team, is third in the conference in three point field goals (.340) and fourth in three point field goals made.
• The Lakers have three girls averaging above nine points per game with Renz leading the way with 12.1, Eliza Oswalt and Shopene both average 9.7 points a game.
• Shopene is also ranked fourth in the PSAC in assists (4.4 per game) and also ties with Lauren Lapertosa as team leaders in rebounds (4.3).

Keys for California

• The Vulcans are ranked 13th in the country and are coming off their biggest win of the season after upsetting the number one team in the nation IUP, 61-56 on the road. This pushed their win streak to six and will look to keep it going as they welcome the Lakers on Saturday.
• Cal is the number four team in the conference averaging 73.6 per game, with their highest scoring game against Edinboro (Jan. 2nd) scoring 92. They would go on to lose that game 99-92, giving the Vulcans their only loss of the season.
• California is ranked second in the conference in not only points allowed per game (58.8) but also scoring margin as well (14.8). The Vulcans are  fourth in field goal percentage (.430) per game
• Seairra Barrett is a player to watch tomorrow for California as she averages 23.3 points per game placing her second in the conference and seventh in the nation. Barrett also is fifth in the PSAC in field goal percentage (.516) and fourth in rebounds per game (8.6).
• Bianca Jasper is among the conference leaders (5th) as well, averaging 4.4 assists while Abbey Sporio is fourth in steals (2.6)

Against California

• The Vulcans lead the all-time series against the Lakers 25-10 with a home record of 14-5. Last year, both teams earned a victory on their home court. Mercyhurst won the first meeting (Jan. 20) 61-53 while Cal took the second game 60-50.

Next Up: The Lakers will be on the road again as they will travel to Edinboro to take on the Fighting Scots on January 30th.