The Cal State Stanislaus Warriors begin the new year with a pair of road games in the Los Angeles Inland Empire with games at Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona.

CONFERENCE SEASON HEATS UP
Now with the non-conference portion of the schedule completed, teams in the California Collegiate Athletic Association will shift focus for the conference season. The Cal State Stanislaus Warriors open the new year with a pair of road games at the Inland Empire schools, Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona. The Warriors will then host home CCAA contests in three of the next four weekends.

BRINGING IN THE NEW YEAR
The Warriors are 4-6 since joining the CCAA (at the start of the 1998-99 season) when playing in their first game of the New Year. The Warriors won last year's first game of the new year by defeating San Francisco State, in Turlock, in double over time 92-88 … Stanislaus actually went 2-0 to start 2008 with wins over San Francisco State and Cal State Monterey Bay.

GETTING BACK ON THE COURT
When the Warriors take the court on Friday, it will be 12 days since they last played a contest due to the extended stay in Anchorage, Alaska (see below), the Christmas and New Year's holidays and a canceled trip to Seattle. The team's last game was on Dec. 20 at Alaska Anchorage and the Dec. 29 game at Seattle Pacific was canceled due to travel issues.

HOME SWEET HOME
After two road games to start 2009, the Warriors will be able to enjoy home cooking for seven of the next eight games. The next away game will be a single-match trip to La Jolla to take on UC San Diego on Saturday, Jan. 24.

IT'S GOOD TO BE HOME
The Warriors women are glad to finally made it home in time for the Holidays as their recent road trip to Anchorage, Alaska was extended. The team was not able to get to Seattle for connecting flights following its games at Alaska Anchorage on Dec. 20. The Warriors spent three extra days in Anchorage before finally getting home on Christmas morning to join their families … heavy snow in Seattle had cause havoc on air travel and the team's original flight to Seattle from Anchorage on Dec. 21 was canceled. They were not able to get out of Alaska until late on Christmas eve.

KIND HEARTS IN ANCHORAGE
Alaska Anchorage athletics personnel and boosters were kind to the Warriors during their exteneded stay in Alaska. Seawolves' supporters arranged meals for the team, brought games to the hotel and offered trips to local attractions and museums. The team also went shopping in the area and made the most of the days. “The people here are so nice,” senior guard Antwinette Turner was quoted in the Modest Bee. “They've taken us to their home and fed us. They showed us around. It's really pretty here, actually. We saw a moose the other day hanging out on the street.”

LIFE'S IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED
The Warriors learned some important life's lessons during the adversity in Anchorage as head coach Sharon Turner-Dean said: “It's been neat for our kids to see how much other people go out of their way to try to help you. It thought them how to make the best of their circumstance.” Turner-Dean said while most players were anxious to get home, they all remained calmed and helped each other through the situation … seniors Gwen Page and Antwinette Turner volunteered to be the last people to get on flights to get home, putting their teammates ahead of themselves, Turner-Dean said.

SETTING TEAM RECORD IN BLOCKS
The Warriors set a new team record with 13 blocked shot on Dec. 20 against No. 3 Alaska Anchorage. That night, Rebecca Arent and Katie Busi (pictured right) each had five blocks with Busi tying her career-high and Arent setting a personal best … the Warriors even impressed Anchorage Daily News writer Beth Bragg as she wrote: “Cal State Stanislaus blocked 13 shots Saturday night, an impressive feat for any team, men's or women's. A team doesn't put up a number like that without a giant in the middle --- which the Warriors don't have -- or a fleet of true athletes, which the Warriors do have.”

CONFERENCE LEADERS
Katie Busi still leads the CCAA in a number of categories. She's No. 1 in rebounding per game (10.3), offensive rebounds per game (4.0), defensive rebounds per game (6.3) and blocked shots per game (2.8). Busi is also 9th in scoring (13.1 per game) … Christin Gowan is now 18-for-20 on the free throw line. She had made 13 straight until missing the back-end of a 1-and-1 on Dec. 20. Her free throw percentage of .900 ranks third in the CCAA.

INJURY UPDATES
Sarah Olson has a broken nose and Heather Jones has a torn rotator cuff and are both out this week. Jones will likely be sitting out the season.

HEAD COACH 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 58-112. 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.

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 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.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS
CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO COYOTES
Records: 4-4, 2-0 CCAA
Head Coach: Kevin Becker (13th season)

Notes:  The Coyotes are coming off two losses in the UC San Diego Holiday Tournament, a 15-point loss to No. 21 Drury University and a 20-point loss to St. Mary's University of Texas … junior guard Krystal Urzua is the team's leading scorer at 18.1 points a game...Urzua is averaging 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game and is making 48 percent of her three-pointers (25 of 52).

Series Record: Coyotes have won the last eight meetings in a row dating back to start of 2004-05 season and lead the series 16-15. Last Warriors win was in 2003-04. Last Meeting:  Feb. 16, 2008 at San Bernardino, CSUSB 74, CSUS 60

CAL POLY POMONA BRONCOS
Records: 6-5, 2-0 CCAA
Head Coach: Scott Davis (2nd season)

Notes:  The Broncos have won four straight games after beating Western Oregon, 77-57 and Northwest Nazarene 56-53 on Dec. 19 and 20 … Reyana Colson has led the team in scoring in each of the last five games … in six games, Colson is averaging 17.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game … Megan Ford averages 9.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

Series Record: Cal State Stanislaus has lost 10 straight to Cal Poly Pomona since sweeping the 2002-03 season. Cal Poly Pomona leads the CCAA series 3-17 … Last Meeting:  Feb. 15, 2008 at Pomona, CPP 57, CSUS 39