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Tatyanna Clayburne

Women's Basketball

McCall Leads Young `Runners into 2022-23 Season

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The third season in The Big West is about to begin for the CSU Bakersfield women's basketball team and the Roadrunners feel they have something to prove. Head Coach Greg McCall will lead a young group of student-athletes into battle, looking to make his `Runners a contender for the league crown once again.

After losing five of the team's most experienced players to graduation and the transfer portal, it was not a big surprise that Bakersfield was picked at the bottom of the Big West Preseason Coaches poll. Heading into his 12th season at the helm of the `Runners, McCall knows his team will not forget the preseason prediction.

"I'm pretty sure it's in the back of their minds," McCall said. "When the news first came out, we spoke on it a little bit and then we left it alone". McCall added that his squad rededicated itself to extra shooting before practice to help prove the naysayers wrong.

While Bakersfield's Head Coach has long recruited athletic and defensive-minded student-athletes, the team's offensive effectiveness came into question after posting a 5-20 record a year ago. Heading into 2022-23, McCall believes the squad's shooting will be greatly improved.

"Our three-point shooting is a whole lot better this year. I think fans are going to be impressed with the way that we're shooting the ball. With the shooters that we had in place and adding a couple more shooters in there, we're still going to get to the rim and we know people are going to play zone against us, but we can shoot the ball really well."

Sophomore Tatyanna Clayburne returns as the most battle-tested guard in the `Runner backcourt, but McCall can also choose from Sophia Tougas, Simone Johnson, Sage Bridges-Bey, and Garrisen Freeman in the rotation after gaining a year of valuable experience.

New `Runner guards who look primed to make an immediate impact include three Division I transfers in Grace Hunter (FIU), Shaunae Brown (Canisius), and Taylor Caldwell (Grand Canyon). Caldwell is rehabbing an injury and will not be cleared to play until later this calendar year, but when the Bakersfield native and Bakersfield High School graduate makes her `Runner debut, the Icardo Center will undoubtedly be rocking with many friends and family cheering her on.

McCall also signed three talented freshmen guards who will be fighting for playing time in Morgan Edwards, Nseije Ortiz, and Julia Riley.

In the post, the `Runners lost the steady presence of Vanessa Austin and will look a little different underneath the basket: "We won't have our back to the basket as much as we did last year, but we still do post up. We have players like Soli Herrera, Hennie van Schaik, and Kayla Morris who are double threats where they can post up and also step away from the rim."

With a large group of newcomers, McCall is content with the way the team is meshing early on: "So far, so good…We just need to keep stringing together good practices. We need to take care of the basketball a little bit better, but right now it's just those small things and we just want to keep getting better."

The `Runners will begin their climb up the mountain that is the 2022-23 season in two days when CSUB hosts Biola in an exhibition game in the Icardo Center. The Eagles and `Runners will tipoff at 12 p.m. (PT) on Nov. 5 for an exhibition test run before Bakersfield opens the regular season with a tough challenge at the Pac-12's USC on Nov. 8.

Season tickets and Single-game tickets are available for CSUB basketball home events ahead of time at GoRunners.com/Tickets or by calling 661-654-BLUE or 661-654-GOLD. Fans who cannot attend the games in person can watch the `Runners live on ESPN+.
 
~GoRunners.com~
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