After going 2-0 in the Eva Schicke Memorial Classic to begin the season, the Warriors will host the Thanksgiving Classic this weekend at Warrior Arena.  The women's tournament will be held during the day at Warrior Arena as the County Bank Classic men's tournament will be held in the evening. 

The four women's teams participating are:  Cal State Monterey Bay, Notre Dame de Namur, Academy of Art and the Warriors.  The Warriors play both Friday and Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

THIS WEEK'S GAMES  (Stanislaus Thanksgiving Classic)
Fri.    Cal State Monterey Bay vs. Norte Dame de Namur, 12:30 pm
    Academy of Art vs. Warriors, 2:30 pm
Sat.    Cal State Monterey Bay vs. Academy of Art, 12:30 pm
    Norte Dame de Namur vs. Warriors, 2:30 pm

LAST WEEK'S GAMES (Eva Schicke Memorial Classic)
Sat.    vs. Central Washington, W, 76-75
Mon.    vs. Northwest Nazarene, W, 73-71

MEDIA COVERAGE
Live stats of both games this weekend are available by following the links on WarriorAthletics.com. Live streaming audio broadcast of both contests are available on WarriorAthletics.com and Network1Sports.com with Thomas Lawrence and Mike Maddox calling the action.

DOWN TO THE WIRE WINS
The Warriors took both of their games in the Eva Schicke Memorial Classic down to the final seconds, and came out on top each time.  In the opener, the Warriors never trailed Central Washington and held a 14-point lead late in the second half but the game was not decided until the final play.  The Wildcats cut the lead to one with a minute left and missed a shot as time expired and the Warriors escaped with a 76-75 win.  In their second game, the Warriors found themselves trailing by 18 with just under five minutes left in regulation, but were able to mount an unforgettable comeback — scoring the game's final 17 points — highlighted by a Gwen Page (pictured right) three-pointer with just 10 seconds left to give them a 73-71 victory.   

PAGE OPENS SEASON STRONG
Senior Gwen Page has gotten off to a hot start after missing most of last season with a knee injury.  In her first game, against Central Washington, Page scored 18 points in just 19 minutes of action.  However, it was against Northwest Nazarene when Page had her true coming out party of the 2008 season.  She scored 24 points and hauled in eight rebounds.  She was 3-for-3 from behind the arc including the game-winner with just 10 seconds remaining.  The three point shot capped off an 18-point comeback for the Warriors.  The two-time first team All-CCAA forward is averaging 21 points per game so far this season.

THANKGIVING AT HOME, BUT ROAD GAMES LOOM
The Warriors have begun the season with a 2-0 record for the first time since the 2005-06 season and will look to build on that as they host their second tournament to open the season.  While the four home games to open the season is nice, the Warriors will soon embark on a long string of road games.  After the Thanksgiving Classic at Warrior Arena this weekend, the Warriors will be on the road for seven of their next eight games.  They will open the CCAA season at San Francisco State and at Cal State Monterey Bay before hosting Grand Canyon on Dec. 13.  Then they will not return home until Jan. 9 when they host Sonoma State.  The road games include trips in Northern California, Southern California, Seattle and Anchorage, Alaska.

BERTOMEN OPENS SOME EYES
Freshman Samantha Bertomen (pictured right) opened some eyes this weekend with some solid play off the bench.  The local kid from Turlock High scored 12 points in the Warriors season opening victory against Central Washington in just 17 minutes.  She is averaging nine points per contest and has hauled in five rebounds.  Head Coach Sharon Turner-Dean is pleased with her rookie saying, “Samantha Bertomen's play was outstanding for a freshman playing in her first two collegiate games. She played so hard, and did all the little things – the intangibles.”  Friday, Bertomen is expected to make her first collegiate start.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
The Warriors are averaging 11 steals per game … Not including Page's 3-for-3 from behind the arc, the Warriors are just 4-21 (19%) on three-point shots … Averaging just 20 turnovers per game while their opponents are averaging 30.5 … Shooting just 63 percent from the free throw line … Ranked second in the CCAA averaging 3 blocked shots per game … Page's 21 points per game ranks her third in the CCAA.

IN TURNER-DEAN'S OWN WORDS
Head Coach Sharon Turner-Dean on practices last week with no games: “Practices last week were very disappointing. We practiced like it's okay to not go hard since we knew we wouldn't be playing for a while.” 

On her teams ability to force turnovers and not commit as many: “We try to get the players to work really hard in practice every day on pressure defense so that when we get into a game and an opponent does that, we won't panic so much. We have also stressed taking care of the ball. Our turnovers, though, still need to be a little lower.” 

On defense and rebounding: “We need to improve our rebounding (out-rebounded in both games) and we must play better defense – teams can't shoot such a high percentage from the field and us continue to win games.”

INJURY REPORT
Christin Gowan and Gwen Page are both day-to-day but probable this weekend with knee injuries.  Gowan's MRI showed a deep bone bruise which should allow her to play with some pain.  Jeanette Rowe is out this weekend with mono.

HEAD COACH SHARON TURNER-DEAN
Sharon Turner-Dean is in her seventh season as the head coach of the Warriors. She is just the fifth head coach in the history of CSUS women's basketball. Since becoming the head coach in 2002, Turner-Dean has posted an overall record of 54-107. In her first season, in 2002-03, the Warriors went 18-10 and tied for second in the CCAA with a 15-7 record. The Warriors advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1991 before losing to Cal State Bakersfield in the first round …her husband Gary is her assistant coach and her son Allen is the team manager.

WARRIOR SPORTS NETWORK
Selected home games will be avilable on the Internet on WarriorAthletics.com and Network1Sports.com. In addition, many games will be simulcast on Cal State Stanislaus' student radio station, KCSS 91.9 FM with student Mike Maddox calling the play-by-play. Check WarriorAthletics.com for more information and for a broadcast schedule.

WARRIORS ON THE WEB
Check out the Warriors men's basketball team on the web at WarriorAthletics.com — the official website of Warrior Athletics. Visitors can browse player profiles, read game results and statistics, as well as subscribe to the Warriors SMS text messaging updates. The website was newly redesigned this summer through a partnership with Internet Consulting Services.

CCAA BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The CCAA men's and women's basketball championships tournament will return to San Bernardino in March of 2009 with the top eight teams to qualify for the conference's postseason tournament. The first round games will be played on Tuesday, March 3 on campus sites of the top four seeds. The semifinals and finals will be played on March 6-7 at Cal State San Bernardino's Coussoulis Arena. The winner of the tournament would receive the automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.