RIVERSIDE -- California Baptist University has returned home after taking on high-caliber talent at the Greater Victoria Invitational in British Columbia, Canada, over Thanksgiving break.

The Lancers opened the tournament against the eventual champions, the #3 Stanford Cardinal. CBU hung tough against the perennial powerhouse, trailing by just one point with 22 seconds left in the contest, eventually falling 83-78. The Cardinal have since become the top-ranked team in the NCAA after the tournament win.

Now sitting at 7-3 on the season, the Lancers will turn their focus to a local foe, with the upcoming Crosstown Showdown game against UC Riverside. This year's contest will be held at the UCR SRC Arena a mere eight-and-a-half miles from the CBU campus.

GAME INFORMATION
Opponent: UC Riverside
Date: Thursday, Dec. 5
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: UCR SRC Arena
Watch: BigWest.TV
Live Stats: UCR Live Stats

CBU will make the short trip to UC Riverside and look to build on its success against the Highlanders from last season. The Lancers took the first game of this series at the CBU Events Center in 2018 by a score of 65-57.

The Lancers will be without the leading scorer from last year's game, Britney Thomas, who scored 21 on UCR. Delacy Brown was next on the scoring list with 16. Brown, along with Ane Olaeta and Georgia Dale, will likely be the starting backcourt trio, as CBU looks to hand the Highlanders their fourth-straight loss.

UC Riverside has had a challenging preseason to say the least, and it looks like it will only get harder. After hosting the Lancers on Thursday night, the Highlanders will have a week-and-a-half to prepare for the third-ranked Oregon Ducks in Eugene. They will close out their pre-conference slate at Southern Utah and at VCU, before one last tune-up game against CSU Bakersfield at home on New Year's Eve.

The Highlanders return their top two scorers from last year in Jannon Otto (15.2 ppg in 2018-19) and Marina Ewodo (11.9 ppg in 2018-19). Both are averaging double-digits again this season at 11.7 and 11.3 respectively. UC Riverside is just 2-7 but has faced stiff competition including games against #24 Arizona.

The two wins for UCR are noteworthy in that they were both against WAC opponents. The Highlanders took down the preseason favorite NM State Aggies 60-58 in Las Cruces, and defeated Utah Valley a few weeks later in Riverside 67-53.