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The Menlo College women's basketball team will put its unbeaten California Pacific Conference record on the line this week when it plays host to William Jessup on Thursday and Simpson University on Saturday.

The first-place Oaks are 8-0 in league (22-3 overall) and will be facing teams currently tied for second. Both games tip off at 5:30 p.m.

Menlo is coming off its 10th straight victory, a 77-37 romp over visiting UC Merced on Saturday. The Oaks put together one of their best defense efforts of the season while forcing 21 turnovers and out-rebounded the Bobcats, 58-31.

The teams first met a few weeks ago and played to a much closer result with Menlo winning, 73-54. The difference this time, according to Menlo head coach Shannon Osborne, was her team's defensive effort and efficiency on the boards.

"We played a much better defensive game this time then we did last time we played them," Osborne said. "I think that was a big difference for us. We obviously didn't shoot as well as we normally do but I feel like we did such a good job on the defensive end that it allowed us to still get easy buckets."

Laurel Donnenwirth put together a great offensive performance for the Oaks by scoring 13 points and pulling down 11 rebounds to give her her ninth double-double of the season. Jolise Limcaco and Carly Tristao both added 12 points to the cause followed by Lauren Adamek with nine.

Osborne continued to get great production out of her bench, as well, as the reserves accounted for 36 of the team's 77 points and also played a big role in the defensive effort and rebounding dominance. One of the players that made an impression in her limited minutes was Aubrey Harris.

"Aubrey Harris coming off the bench had 10 rebounds in 10 minutes, six on the offensive end," said Osborne.

Men's basketball
Menlo will play host to William Jessup and Simpson University on Thursday and Saturday, respectively, both at 7:30 p.m.

The Oaks (3-4, 7-16) are coming off a 74-71 loss to visiting UC Merced on Saturday. Keith Bowman led Menlo with 30 points and 13 rebounds, his fourth double-double of the season.

Menlo head coach Jon Surface was pleased with the performance of Bowman, but noted it's not enough to get an effort like that from just one player.

"I think we tried to pound it inside," Surface said. "We had a little advantage inside and he was able to carry us along. We need to rally around that and still make plays. I think we got caught watching a little bit and need to continue to play from every position.

"We had some discipline issues tonight. We had 20 turnovers and put them to the line 38 times (The Bobcats made 28). It's hard to win a ballgame like that."

— Menlo College Athletics

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