Nov. 28, 2007

Box Score

Nov. 27, 2007

DAVIS, Calif. - Four UC Davis players scored in double figures, led by senior Jessica Campbell who scored a game-high 19 points while surpassing 1,000 for her career, as the unbeaten Aggie women's basketball team used a late 14-1 run to pull away from Portland State for an 80-62 win at The Pavilion on Tuesday night.

UC Davis improved to 5-0 for the first time since 2001-02 heading into Sunday's matchup at No. 5/6 Stanford. Portland State, which was led by 15 points from forward Delaney Conway, suffered its first loss and fell to 5-1. Heather Bates added her fifth career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, guard Anna Harp scored 18 points and wing Haylee Donaghe tallied 14 for the Aggies who had not played since winning the Waikiki Beach Marriott Classic on Nov. 18.

UC Davis shot 58 percent (29 of 50) for the game, including 63.6 percent (14 of 22) in the second half, while also outscoring the Vikings 48-18 in the paint.

The Aggies, which led by as many as 10 points in the first half and 38-29 at halftime, were up 64-53 with 7 minutes 42 seconds left in the second half before the Vikings closed to within 66-61 just over a minute later. However, Campbell scored six points, and Donaghe and Harp each had four as UC Davis tightened its grip and held the Vikings without a field goal (0 for 8) and to just a single point the rest of the way.

"I thought we slowed the tempo offensively (down the stretch)," said head coach Sandy Simpson. "What I mean by that was we slowed our decision-making. When we took our time and made good decisions, we got some backdoor baskets and finished."

UC Davis and Portland State both came out strong on Tuesday night with the Vikings opening a 14-9 lead with 12:49 left in the half on a basket by Kelli Valentine. Portland State led 17-13 two minutes later after a three-pointer by Katia Hadju-Hamou - one of her team's eight treys - but Harp scored as UC Davis tallied six of the next eight points to take the lead, 21-19. The teams were tied twice more, the last time at 23-23, before Ellen Porshneva scored six consecutive points to help the Aggies take a 31-23 lead before leading by nine at the half.

The Aggies led bas many as 11 and by as few as eight points over the first 12 minutes of the second half before the Vikings eventually rallied to within 66-61.

"We've already won in a variety of ways under a variety of circumstances and that's a sign of a good team," said Simpson. "I was very proud of how poised and how we kept our composure down the stretch."

Campbell, who redshirted last season before returning for her senior season this year, scored her 1,000th career point on a free throw with 7:42 to go. She's the 13th Aggie player to reach the 1,000-point barrier and the first since Porshneva did it in 2005-06. Campbell is now at 1,007.

"It's such a testament to her consistency," said Simpson. "It's so hard to score 1,000 points in our system because points are distributed among so many players."

Campbell was 5 of 9 from the field and made all nine of her free throw attempts to account for her 19 points. Bates had a trio of three-pointers and had nine defensive rebounds as part of her double-double while also adding five steals. Harp was 8 of 9 from the field while Donaghe made 7 of 10. Kirsten Commins had five assists and four steals, helping the Aggies to a dozen swipes on the night. UC Davis also finished 19 of 21 (90.5 percent) from the line.

Kelsey Kahle added 14 points for Portland State while Valentine had 12. The Vikings shot 42.6 percent from the field, a season-high for an Aggie opponent.

UC Davis returns to action on Sunday when it travels to face Stanford at Maples Pavilion at 2 p.m. The game is the first of three straight against teams that made last year's NCAA Tournament. The Aggies will host Gonzaga on Dec. 7 before traveling to face No. 14/15 Arizona State on Dec. 9.