Nov. 14, 2008

Box Score

CEDAR CITY, Utah - Lisa Peterson scored a game-high 14 points and Haylee Donaghe had a career-high nine steals on Friday night as the UC Davis women's basketball team cruised to a 64-44 nonconference win over host Southern Utah in the season-opener for both teams.

UC Davis, which finished 19-12 in its debut NCAA Division I season last year, had three players in double figures overall, a trio that was completed by sophomore Paige Mintun who had 11 points and guard Genevieve Costello who finished with 10. Forward Anne Westwood-Higbee scored 12 points and had eight rebounds to lead the Thunderbirds.

The Aggies took control of the game early in the first half by scoring the first eight points, highlighted by a pair of three pointers from Mintun and Costello. A jumper from Peterson with 5 minutes, 56 seconds left in the first half gave UC Davis its second 12-point lead while Costello's trey extended it later to 23-10. The Aggies held Southern Utah scoreless over the final 3:50 of the first half while scoring the final seven points to take a comfortable 32-13 lead at the break.

UC Davis benefitted from holding the Thunderbirds to just four field goals and 16.7 percent shooting before halftime. Southern Utah finished shooting just 28.1 percent from the floor for the game, including a 3 of 20 mark from beyond the three-point stripe.

A 9-2 run over a time span of just under two minutes to start the second half pushed the lead to 41-15. UC Davis matched that 26-point lead twice down the stretch while letting Southern Utah get no closer than 17 points in the final 20 minutes of action.

Southern Utah owned a 46-39 rebounding advantage over the Aggies, paced by a game-high 10 from Challis Pascucci who came off the bench. Mintun had seven boards to lead UC Davis while Peterson added six. Peterson, a redshirt freshman making her regular-season Aggie debut, finished 5 of 8 from the floor in 21 minutes of action.

Donaghe, among the Division I leaders in steals last season, picked up where she left off, swiping nine on Friday night. That tied her for third on the program's single-game list with current associate head coach Jennifer Gross who accomplished the feat in 1996 against Humboldt State. Donaghe's previous best was seven which she had last season against Long Beach State. The Aggies had 18 steals overall with four other players garnering two each.

UC Davis shot 38.1 percent from the field for the game, including just 23.1 percent (6 of 26) from three-point territory. Southern Utah, however, struggled more from long distance, making just 3 of 20 after going 0 for 8 in the first half. The Thunderbirds also turned the bal over 28 times.

The Aggies will return to action in a week when they travel to the University of Denver for a nonconference matchup on Nov. 21.