Dec. 20, 2008

Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. - Forward Megan Nuevirth scored a career-high 26 points and pulled down 13 rebounds on Saturday afternoon, off-setting a career-high 24 points from the Aggies' Paige Mintun, as Creighton held off UC Davis 61-58 in a nonconference women's basketball game at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.

The Aggies lost their third straight game, falling to 4-5 overall while the Bluejays snapped a three-game losing streak - two of them to ranked opponents - and improved to 3-6.

Kasey Riecks scored a career-high 13 points and had four assists for the Aggies while freshman Cortney French came off the bench to hit a trio of three-pointers on her way to a career-best 11 points.

The game featured 13 lead changes and nine ties and was close throughout. UC Davis' biggest lead was four points and came in the first half while Creighton held its largest advantage at 38-30 early in the second.

The Aggies held their final lead at 42-41 with 11 minutes, 43 seconds remaining and were tied with the Bluejays three more times, including the final occassion with 3:36 to go when Riecks' three-pointer gave UC Davis a 54-54 tie.

Mintun made a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left to cut the Creighton lead to 59-58, leading to two free throws by Woodard who was fouled with 10 seconds on the clock. UC Davis raced downcourt for a potential game-tying three-pointer but Genevieve Costello's try with two seconds left was blocked by Kristina Voss.

UC Davis played the game without standout Haylee Donaghe who missed the game with injury after getting hurt during the Aggies' 59-47 loss at South Dakota State on Wednesday.

"Overall I was really pleased with the effort," said Aggie coach Sandy Simpson. "I told the team afterward that we're going to continue to ask more and more of them in terms of execution and timing as they get more experience, but I couldn't ask any more from them in terms of effort and focus and competitive fire."

A pair of jumpers from Mintun staked UC Davis to a 4-0 lead and the teams played a close first half the rest of the way. Back-to-back three-pointers from Cortney French helped the Aggies take an 18-15 lead and they continued to hold the lead until Voss put the Bluejay up 21-20. Creighton led 30-27 at halftime.

Trailing 38-30, UC Davis used four points from Mintun and a three-pointer from Costello to get within a point early after halftime. A 49-45 Creighton lead with 5:46 to go was its biggest of the second half.

The Aggies hit several big shots down the stretch that either brought them to within one point or into a tie after the Bluejays had forged ahead with key shots of their own.

"Every time it looked like Creighton would be able to create some separation between them and us we were able to come back and hang around," said Simpson. "Down the stretch both teams made plays. They heated up from three-point range but we hit a couple of big threes too. I was really pleased with the effort."

Mintun's 24 points eclipsed her previous best of 18 points which she had against both Arizona State and Saint Mary's earlier this month. She added a team-high seven rebounds and had three steals. Included in her 9-of-18 shooting were a pair of treys.

Neuvirth made four three-pointers to help her 26-point game while Woodard had five treys. Woodard also had seven assists.

UC Davis will take a break from action for eight days, taking on No. 3 Stanford on Dec. 28 at Maples Pavilion.