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Win over Arizona key for UCR women -

RIVERSIDE - December is seldom a breeze for UC Riverside's women's basketball Highlanders, just because John Margaritis believes in testing his team as sternly as possible.

This December? The perfect storm. A combination of another unforgiving schedule -- four opponents in the top 75 in RPI -- and injuries that left UCR with eight healthy bodies for much of the month have made this an even more difficult start than usual.

Maybe Wednesday was a sliver of sunshine through the clouds. The Highlanders broke a four-game losing streak, and refilled their reservoir of confidence, with a 65-53 home victory over Arizona.

"We were running out of time," Margaritis said. "If we're going to be good in conference, we had to start playing well before we get to conference."

Now, it's not like the Highlanders (3-7) knocked off Stanford. Arizona is 5-4 but has lost three straight and is in its own rebuilding mode, with three JC transfers and a true freshman among its top five   Read Full Article...