Nov. 16, 2007

Box Score

HONOLULU, Hawaii - Heather Bates and Paige Mintun each scored 13 points and the UC Davis women's basketball team opened a double-digit lead midway through the first half as the Aggies cruised to a 68-52 win over Northern Arizona on Friday at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Classic at the University of Hawaii.

The win improved the Aggies' early-season record to 2-0 while the Lumberjacks lost their first game of the season, falling to 2-1. Laura Dinkins scored 13 points to lead Northern Arizona while Ashley Ingle scored 12. UC Davis will continue play in the round-robin tournament on Saturday when it faces host Hawaii.

The Aggies never trailed against the Lumberjacks but were tied 8-8 eight minutes into the game before Mintun's bucket started a 15-0 run that made it 23-8 with 7 minutes, 17 seconds to go in the first half. Mintun and Haylee Donaghe each had four points in the run while Bates hit a three-pointer.

"The start really mirrored, I thought, the Sac State game in that we came out with tremendous intensity, defensively," said UC Davis head coach Sandy Simpson, referencing last Sunday's season-opening win against the Hornets. "We were getting a lot of steals and deflections but we weren't always finishing at the other end. But then we kind of hit a nice run and got up."

Janelle Matthews' three-pointer with 5:40 left in the half ended a drought of nearly seven minutes for Northern Arizona and cut the deficit to 23-11. The Aggies, however, limited the Lumberjacks to just 23 percent shooting and five field goals in the first half before going into halftime with a 31-17 lead.

UC Davis led 37-24 early in the second half but Mintun hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to barely beat the shot clock and Bates followed with the second of her three treys in the game to help put the Aggies up 43-25. UC Davis led by as many as 21 points in the second half before ending with the 16-point win.

"It seemed like every time (NAU) hit a couple of three's to start seizing some momentum, we answered with a couple," said Simpson. "I told the team I really liked seeing that because it shows we have the heart to respond."

Guard Anna Harp added nine points for UC Davis - all in the second half - while Genevieve Costello hit a three-pointer and scored eight points. Senior Jessica Campbell - just 40 points away from 1,000 in her career - also had eight.

Dinkins scored 10 of her points after halftime for Northern Arizona while Mathews had a trio of three-pointers as part of her 13 points. Center Ashley Ingle added 12 points.

Tipoff for Saturday's game with Hawaii is 9 p.m. (Pacific). The Aggies will conclude tournament action on Sunday when they face Washington - the first of six teams on the schedule that made last year's NCAA Tournament.