Feb. 21, 2008

Box Score

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Ellen Porshneva scored six points down the stretch and Jessica Campbell drained a key three-pointer as the shot clock expired with just over a minute to go as the UC Davis women's basketball team rallied from a late five-point deficit to beat Cal Poly 53-47 for its sixth straight Big West Conference win.

The Aggies, who also won their fifth straight road game, improved to 16-9 overall and 10-3 in the Big West. Porshneva finished with 13 points to lead UC Davis while Paige Mintun had 11. UC Davis remains in third-place in the league standings behind UC Riverside and first-place UC Santa Barbara.

Cal Poly, which rallied from a 27-16 halftime deficit to take a 47-42 lead with 4 minutes, 8 seconds to go, dropped to 9-16 overall and 6-6 in the conference. Megan Harrison scored 18 points, including 11 in the second half, to pace the Mustangs who didn't score during the final four minutes of the game.

Shannon Gholar's free throw with 7:06 left gave the Mustangs a 40-39 lead, their first lead since early in the game while Brittany Asplund's back-to-back baskets later helped extend the lead to 47-42 with just over four minutes to go. But Porshneva hit a pair of free throws and then followed with two more buckets down low as UC Davis took a 48-47 lead with 2:02 left.

UC Davis had the ball with late in the game with the shot clock winding down but Campbell delivered the big shot as her three-pointer from in front of the Aggies' bench beat the buzzer with 1:11 left, giving UC Davis a 51-47 lead.

"As soon as it left her hands I thought it had a shot," said head coach Sandy Simpson. "Obviously it was huge to go from a one- to four-point lead."

Kirsten Commins added a layup with 24 seconds to go and the Aggies held the Mustangs scoreless the rest of the way.

"I thought Ellen played well on both ends of the floor down the stretch," said Simpson.

The teams played a tight game for the first 11 minutes before Heather Bates canned a three-pointer for a 16-12 lead and igniting a 12-0 run for the Aggies who led 25-12 after two free throws from Porshneva with just below three minutes left in the half. UC Davis led 27-16 at the break.

The lead remained double-digits until a jumper from Harrison made it 32-24 with 14:38 to go. Cal Poly continued to slice into the lead and then used an 11-0 run to take a 43-39 with 6:24 left. The 47-42 advantage was its largest.

"It wasn't pretty offensively but we found a way to win," said Simpson.

UC Davis shot 36.2 percent from the field and had 14 steals - four of them from Commins - while Porshneva was 6 of 6 from the line. Cal Poly, which had no other players in double figures besides Harrison, shot 38.3 percent including 1 of 13 (7.7 percent) from three-point.

UC Davis continues its roadtrip on Saturday when its visits UC Santa Barbara for a 2 p.m. game.