Jan. 30, 2009
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
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GAME 19
UC Davis (7-11, 3-4) at Pacific (10-9, 4-3)
Jan. 31, 4 p.m. (NOTE TIME UPDATE) Spanos Center (6,150) KDVS (90.3. FM) www.ucdavisaggies.com Big West TV
OPENING TIPS: UC Davis tries to end a two-game losing streak and even its record in the Big West Conference when the Aggies play travel partner Pacific in their lone action of the week... UC Davis enters the week tied for fifth in the Big West Conference with Cal State Fullerton... This week's game marks the end of first half of league play in which the Aggies have played five of their games on the road... The schedule switches with five of the last eight - including four of the final five - at home... The current three-game road swing is the longest of the season... UC Davis is currently shooting .751 from the free throw line, second-best in the Big West and No. 19 among all NCAA Division I teams... Last weekend's 64-60 loss at Cal Poly marked the first time the Aggies had scored at least that many points and lost... They entered the game 5-0 when reaching the 60-point plateau... UC Davis will be trying to end a run where it's lost seven of its last eight games on the road... W Lauren Juric, who made 6 of 7 three-point attempts last weekend, has jumped to No. 2 in the conference for percentage (.396).
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. PACIFIC: UC Davis holds a 7-5 advantage in an all-time series that started in the 1978-79 season but had a 24-year hiatus until resuming in 2004-05... The Aggies had a six-game winning streak against the Tigers snapped last year when AMY VANHOLLEBEKE canned a shot from beyond midcourt as the buzzer sounded to lift Pacific to a dramatic 72-71 win at Stockton... W Haylee Donaghe had 19 points while P Paige Mintun had 11 for UC Davis... The Aggies had eight three-pointers in a 58-54 victory at The Pavilion earlier in the season.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE TIGERS: Pacific, one of four Big West Conference teams with winning records, enters the game after having dropped both of its road games last week at Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara... The Tigers are tied for third in the league standings after jumping to a 4-1 conference start... Pacific is second in the league in scoring at 65.8 ppg and averages a Big West-best 41.3 rebounds... Their +5.1 rebounding margin is also the league's best... The Tigers are led in scoring by AMBER SIMMONS whose 18.1 ppg. average comes off of 48-percent shooting... She is also averaging 6.9 rpg and has a team-high 18 blocks... JANAE YOUNG is scoring 11.0 ppg and has a team-high 7.7 rpg. average... GRETCHEN TIEMAN has canned 45 three-pointers which are more than 75 percent of her total field goals... The Tigers are perfect at home this season, posting a 9-0 mark overall and a 3-0 record in the Big West.
CAL POLY 64, UC DAVIS 60: Lisa McBride had four three-pointers and scored 20 points and Cal Poly rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half, as the Mustangs upended UC Davis in a Big West Conference women's basketball game played before 446 fans at Mott Gym on Saturday afternoon... Sophomore Paige Mintun scored 22 points and had eight rebounds for the Aggies who lost for the second straight game.. Lauren Juric canned a career-high four three-pointers for UC Davis and finished with 12 points... Freshman G Hana Asano had nine points off the bench for UC Davis while guard Genevieve Costello had eight points and six assists... UC Davis, which led 21-12 in the first half before going into the break tied with the Mustangs 29-29, took a 48-38 lead with 12 minutes, 54 seconds to play when Asano nailed a long three-pointer from the corner to cap an 8-0 run... The lead was still 10 a little more than a minute later when Cal Poly scored seven straight to get within three... The Mustangs took their first lead since early in the game when Becky Tratter scored inside to make it 56-54 with 3:29 to go... UC Davis had a chance to take a late lead but Juric - who made her first four three-point tries - was just off the mark for another, keeping it 60-58 with 47 seconds left. The Mustangs went 4 for 4 from the line down the stretch to keep the Aggies away.
MINTUN ENJOYING STRONG SEASON: P Paige Mintun has been the offensive leader for the Aggies this season, posting three games with at least 20 points including 22 at Cal Poly last week... She also leads the team in rebounding (6.4 pg), blocks (140, steals (31) and is just one off the team lead for assists with 41... Her .826 mark from the free throw line is among the top 100 players in Div. I... Mintun posted one of her finest games as an Aggie on Jan. 4 when she had her first career double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds, adding seven assists, six steals and three blocked shots... She was also a sparkling 9 of 10 from the line... Mintun has scored 421 career points, more than half (242) which have come this season.
JURIC HEATING UP FROM DOWNTOWN: W Lauren Juric has been red-hot for the Aggies from beyond the arc over the past two games... She went 2 of 2 at UC Santa Barbara and then made her first four at Cal Poly before finally missing... Her 6-for-7 performance vaulted her season rate to .396, second-best in the conference... Juric is 8 for 13 from three-point territory over the past (.615) in her past four games.
UC DAVIS AMONG THE BEST FROM THE STRIPE: The Aggies are shooting .751 from the free throw line, a mark that ranks them second in the Big West and No. 19 among Div. I teams... They've made at least 80 percent of their tries in seven of their past eight games including 12 of 15 at Cal Poly last weekend.... They had a season-best 21 made shots (21 of 26, .808) against Cal State Northridge on Jan.4... UC Davis started the season slow, making just .654 over the first three games.
THREE EQUALS 18: P Paige Mintun, W Kasey Riecks and G Genevieve Costello have each started all 18 games this season, the only players to do so... W Lauren Juric has been in the lineup for 17 starts with the remaining position having floated between several players due to injuries.
AGGIE TRIO SCORING WELL IN BIG WEST: UC Davis has three players averaging in double figures over the first seven games of the Big West season... P Paige Mintun (15.3), W Kasey Riecks (11.0) and W Lauren Juric (10.7) have formed a balanced trio for the Aggies... Juric has a team-high tying 11 three-pointers in league play, Riecks is shooting 90 percent from the line and Mintun is making nearly 50 percent of her field goal attempts... For the season, only Mintun (13.4) is averaging in double figures.
UC DAVIS IS EVEN-STEVEN IN LEAGUE: Their record is 3-4 in Big West games but the Aggies' ledger is balanced in the scoring department... Through seven matchups, the Aggies have scored 431 points and they've allowed 431 points... Their scoring averages to 61.6 ppg... Wanna guess what they're scoring defense average is?
YOUTH IS SERVED WITH UC DAVIS: The Aggies are a youthful team, featuring four true freshmen, three redshirt freshmen, one sophomore, two juniors and just one senior (G Genevieve Costello)... Because of injuries, they've played with just eight players for five of the past eight games, five players playing their first year of collegiate basketball... The freshmen have combined to start a combined 47 games, including all 18 by W Kasey Riecks.
FRENCH BREAKS OUT AGAINST ANTEATERS: Freshman W Cortney French enjoyed her best game of her young Aggie career when she scored a season-high 14 points against UC Irvine on Jan. 17... French fueled that outburst by going 4 of 5 from three-pointers including making 3 of 4 in the first half... She had three treys against Creighton in December during a five game stretch when she made 9 of 18 (.500)... For the season she's shooting .341 from beyond the arc.
SIMPSON REACHES 200 WINS WITH ALL-TIME RECORD CLOSE: A Jan. 4 win against Cal State Northridge delivered head coach Sandy Simpson the 200th of his 12-year career, helping push his overall mark to its current 202-126 (.615)... With 202, he now needs just four wins to pass former coach JORJA HOEHN (1988-95, 96-97) who amassed a 205-51 (.801) record during her impressive tenure... Simpson served as an assistant coach under Hoehn as well as mentor PAM GILL-FISHER (1975-79, 81-86, 87-88) who posted 164 career victories... His first year in 1996-97, when he assumed interim leadership duties while Hoehn took a one-year absence, resulted in a 29-3 record and third-place finish at the NCAA Division II Championships.
UC DAVIS ANNOUNCES DIVISION I PRESENCE: The Aggies wasted little time establishing themselves as a formidable NCAA Division I program by enjoying a strong inaugural season at their new level... The Aggies finished 19-12 overall, 12-4 in the Big West Conference and advanced to within one game of the "Big Dance" by falling to UC Santa Barbara in the league's tournament championship game... UC Davis was just the second team in Big West history to advance to the title game as well as the postseason... The Aggies, by virtue of their second-place finish in the regular season, earned the Big West's automatic berth into the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT)... Wins over Pac-10 member Washington, UCSB (the Gauchos' only league loss), and winning streaks of six, five and four games highlighted UC Davis' impressive debut.
UC DAVIS TO BE TESTED WITH SCHEDULE: UC Davis have faced or will face five teams that advanced to the postseason last year, including national runner-up Stanford and NCAA participant Arizona State during its 28-game schedule this season... Other teams that earned postseason nods were Creighton and South Dakota State, which like the Aggies played in the WNIT... Altogether, six Aggie opponents posted 20-win sasons in 2007-08, a group that includes Stanford (35-4), Arizona State (22-11), South Dakota State (23-7), UC Santa Barbara (23-7), Creighton (21-12) and Santa Clara (20-11)... UCSB, as Big West champion, also participated in the NCAA Tournament.
DONAGHE SIDELINED FOR REMAINDER OF THE YEAR: W Haylee Donaghe, an All-Big West second-team pick last year and 10th all-time at UC Davis with 149 steals, will be unable to play the remainder of the season due to a knee injury... Donaghe, who averaged 11.6 ppg in her seven games, was injured against South Dakota State on Dec. 17... Donaghe, whose first two seasons at UC Davis were impacted by an unrelated injury, received a clock extension from the NCAA in October for those earlier setbacks and is eligible through 2009-10... She is a junior athletically but finished her undergraduate studies last spring and is in graduate studies in exercise biology.
MORE INJURIES: W VICKI DEELY and P Lisa Peterson have both missed considerable time with injuries... Deely missed 10 games early before playing against Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside... She has been out since, however, and is not expected to return this season... Peterson was out six games since getting injured at Stanford but has returned to play briefly the past two games.
