March 14, 2008

Box Score

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Heather Bates and Haylee Donaghe each scored 13 points on Friday afternoon and UC Davis strung together a decisive 10-0 run late in the game as the Aggie women's basketball team beat UC Riverside 63-53 to advance to Saturday's championship game of the Big West Tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Second-seeded UC Davis, playing its first year as an official member of NCAA Division I and the Big West Conference, will face top-seeded UC Santa Barbara (22-7) at noon. The game will be televised regionally by FSN Prime Ticket and broadcast on KDVS (90.3 FM). The championship matchup can also be heard on www.ucdavisaggies.com.

UC Davis improved to 19-10 with the win while UC Riverside, the two-time defending tournament champion, ended its season 14-16. Seyram Gbewonyo scored a game-high 17 points for the Highlanders while Amber Cox had 13 and Brittany Waddell added 12.

Friday's win also guarantees the Aggies' their first postseason appearance since 1999. If they do not advance to the NCAA Tournament the Aggies are guaranteed a berth in the 48-team Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) which begins next week.

UC Davis led just 24-22 at halftime, despite holding UC Riverside to only 19.2 percent shooting, before the teams engaged in a tight second half that featured eight lead changes. The Aggies trailed by as many as five points after halftime and were down 47-46 after a jumper from Gbewonyo with 6 minutes, 54 seconds to go.

However, Harp - who scored all 11 of her points in the second half - converted a three-point play less than 30 seconds later to return the lead to UC Davis and jumpstart a 10-0 run that put the Aggies up 56-47 with 2:25 remaining. Donaghe had four points in that surge while Bates hit a big three-pointer.

UC Davis led 56-49 with less than a minute to go before Harp - who missed the previous two games with injury - banked in a leaning three-pointer to beat the shot-clock buzzer with 46 seconds left. The Aggies didn't relinquish much of the lead the rest of the game, delivering the program its first postseason win since the 1999 NCAA Division II West Region semifinals.

The teams played a tight and competitive first half with the Aggies trailing by no more than two points but leading by more than five. The final 16 minutes of the opening 20 minutes featured four ties and no lead larger than four points. Knotted at 22-22 late in the half, UC Davis took the lead into the break on a jumper from Jessica Campbell with five seconds left.

"We were very fortunate obviously in the first half to have the lead," said Aggie coach Sandy Simpson. "And I think you could probably point directly to UCR's shooting percentage in the first half for keeping us in the game. I'm not sure either team was playing at their optimal level but we were able to hang around. Both teams were playing very well defensively."

A three-pointer from Waddell less than three minutes into capped an early rally from the Highlanders in which they took a 31-26 lead. Another three-pointer from Waddell - she had three in the second half - made it 37-32 with 12:54 remaining. Ellen Porshneva's bucket with 11:04 left put UC Davis back in front 38-37 but UC Riverside twice regained the advantage before the Aggies scored 10 straight to help take control down the stretch.

"The second half was a totally different half," said Aggie coach Sandy Simpson. "Both teams shot the ball differently and we shot the ball extremely well. With about 10 minutes to go I thought we were hitting a wall. But we just dug in."

Campbell added 11 points to help give UC Davis four double-digit scorers while Bates had nine rebounds. The Aggies out-rebounded the Highlanders 32-27, including 19-8 in the second half. They also made 14 of 21 shots (.667) after halftime, including 3 of 4 from three-point territory.

UC Riverside shot just 27.3 percent from the field for the game and had seven treys, including three from Waddell and two each from Amber Cox and Gbewonyo.

UC Davis and UCSB will be meeting for the third time this season with both previous games decided in overtime. The Gauchos won 62-53 at The Pavilion in January while the Aggies returned the favor 59-56 in Santa Barbara on Feb. 23.

UCSB is no stranger to the Big West Tournament championship game having appeared in the last 12 finals. The Gauchos have won the tournament title 11 times, including nine straight before UC Riverside ended their run in 2005.