Jan. 31, 2009

Final Stats

STOCKTON, Calif. - Janae Young scored 15 points, AmJanae Young scored 15 points, Amber Simmons had 13 and Pacific denied UC Davis a potential game-tying three-point shot in the final seconds as the Tigers held on to edge the Aggies 63-60 in a Big West Conference women's basketball game at the Alex G. Spanos Center on Saturday afternoon.

UC Davis lost its third consecutive game - all on the road - to fall to 7-12 overall and 3-5 in the Big West. Paige Mintun scored 17 points and posted six rebounds for the Aggies while freshman Kasey Riecks had 14 points. Pacific, which improved to 10-0 at home this season, is 11-9 overall and 5-3 in league.

UC Davis nearly rallied after trailing by five points with 27 seconds remaining. After Whitney Price made two free throws to make it 63-58, guard Genevieve Costello raced uncontested for a layup to bring the Aggies to within three points with 20 ticks left. UC Davis immediately fouled Amy VanHollebeke who missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity.

After a timeout with 11 seconds remaining, UC Davis worked the perimeter against the Tigers' defense but time expired before it could get a shot off as Pacific preserved the win.

The Aggies held their final lead at 47-46 with 8:26 remaining but were tied at 50-50 about 90 seconds later. The Tigers took a 57-51 advantage with 4:32 left but UC Davis got closer, getting to within 59-58 on a three-pointer from Mintun with 1:24 to play. A pair of three throws by Janae Young with 1:05 left made it 61-58, setting up the exciting finish.

Both teams shot the ball well in the first half but were plagued by turnovers. Pacific shot 57 percent from the floor but had 16 turnovers while the Aggies made 50 percent of their attempts and turned it over 15 times. A jumper from Riecks and a three-pointer from Cortney French staked UC Davis to an early 5-0 lead which it extended to 11-2 - its largest of the game - after Lauren Juric scored inside less than four minutes into the game.

However, an 11-1 run by the Tigers gave them a 13-12 lead four minutes later and from there the teams played close the rest of the way. The Aggies led 27-24 with 2:06 left in the half but Pacific scored seven of the last 10 points to lead 31-30 at the break.

The Tigers went up 39-33 early in the second half only to have UC Davis tie it at 42-42 on a three-pointer from guard Hana Asano with 12:03 left. The teams were tied twice more before Pacific took its 57-51 lead late, matching its largest of the game.

The Tigers held a 37-27 rebounding advantage in the game, including grabbing 17 on the offensive end which led to 14 second-chance points.

"They're the leading rebounding team in the league - and by far the leading offensive rebounding team - and they picked it up in the second half. That was really, I thought, the difference in the game," said Aggie coach Sandy Simpson. "Both teams were a little sloppy with the ball, there were a lot of turnovers, but the difference was they gave themselves extra opportunities."

Mintun and Riecks both made 5 of 9 from the field with Mintun also canning a pair of three-pointers. She added four assists and three blocked shots. French made a pair of treys and had eight points.

Young added eight rebounds to her 15 points while Simmons was 5 of 7 from the floor. Young finished with six steals while VanHollebeke had five.

The game marked the midway point of the Big West Conference season for UC Davis which will play five of its final eight league games at home. The Aggies will start that stretch with a 7 p.m. game on Thursday against Long Beach State.