Nov. 25, 2009
Complete UC Davis game notes in PDF Format 
Complete Creighton game notes in PDF Format
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GAME 5
Creighton (3-1) at UC Davis (2-2)
Nov. 27, 7 p.m. • The Pavilion (6,100) • KDVS (90.3 FM) • www.ucdavisaggies.com
OPENING TIPS
The Aggies conclude a season-long three-game homestand on Friday when they face Creighton, the second consecutive opponent that earned a bid to the 2009 postseason... The Bluejays are one of five teams on the Aggies' schedule this season that advanced to either the NCAA Tournament or Women's National Invitational Tournament with Creighton advancing to the latter... UC Davis attracted 1,759 fans to its matchup with No. 2 Stanford on Sunday... The Aggies are off to a hot start from beyond the three-point stripe, making 24 of 59 (.407) of their attempts... Opponents, meanwhile, are being held to just 22 of 53 (.265)... UC Davis is being outrebounded in the early going an average of 38.0-29.3 pg with 40 percent of the opponents' rebounds coming off the offensive glass... The Aggies will play three games next week before taking an eight-day break for final exams.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. CREIGHTON
The Aggies and Bluejays have met just once with Creighton edging UC Davis 61-58 in Omaha, Neb., last Dec. 20... P Paige Mintun scored a then career-best 24 points and had seven rebounds for the Aggies while W Kasey Riecks added 13 and W Cortney French added 11... F MEGAN NEUVIRTH scored 26 points and had 13 rebounds to lead the Bluejays in their win... The game featured 13 lead changes and nine ties... UC Davis had a potential game-tying three-pointer blocked in the waning seconds... It was the second of a two-game roadtrip to the midwest which also included a matchup at South Dakota State... Weather on the trip featured sub-freezing temperatures, including minus-12 at SDSU... UC Davis played without W Haylee Donaghe who was injured against the Jackrabbits.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE BLUEJAYS
Creighton is the preseason favorite to capture the Missouri Valley Conference, returning seven letterwinners and four starters from last year's team that posted an impressive 22-12 record and a second-place mark of 14-4 in league... The Bluejays opened the WNIT with a win over UC Davis rival UC Riverside... F MEGAN NUVIRTH, averaging 12.5 ppg and 6.3 rpg. is the preseason conference player of the year... G CHEVELLE HERRING is scoring at a 12.8 ppg clip while G KELSEY WOODARD is averaging 12.3 ppg... Woodard had 15 points and Neuvirth scored 12 to lead Creighton to a 63-54 win over Kansas State on Monday night.. The Wildcats, who visit The Pavilion on Dec. 29, were an NCAA Tournament team last year... Creighton is shooting 40.2 percent from three-point territory, better than their 38.6 clip overall... The Bluejays are also outscoring opponents an average of 11ppg. (69.0-59.0).
UC DAVIS HAS BRIGHT MOMENTS FROM DOWNTOWN
The Aggies are shooting 40.7 percent from three-point territory so far, helped by strong games against Seattle and San Francisco... UC Davis made 11 of 20 (.550) versus the Redhawks in the opener before sinking 5 of 11 (.455) against the Dons... The Aggies are just 8 of 28 (.285) in their other two games.
AGGIES SWIPING SOME STEALS
UC Davis averaged 9.2 steals per game in 2008-09 and is off to a similar start this season... The Aggies are averaging 10.8 steals through their first four games, including 15 at Seattle and 16 at San Francisco... UC Davis had respectable totals of five at Washington State and seven against Stanford... G Hana Asano is averaging 2.5 pg to lead the team.
RIECKS SETS CAREER MARK AT SEATTLE
W Kasey Riecks got her 2009-10 season off to a good start by canning a career-high 5 3-pters during the Aggies' season-opening win at Seattle... She scored a career-best 21 points, eclipsing her previous-highs of four treys against Cal Poly and 17 points versus visiting Cal State Fullerton, both last year... Riecks, who has started each of her 33 career games, made her first three shots from beyond the arc against Seattle.
FRENCH SIZZLES FROM BEYOND THE ARC
W Cortney French is a three-point specialist, canning 33 of her 43 field goals last year from long distance... She has picked up where she left off, hitting 4 of 4 during last week's win against USF... All but one of her made buckets this year have been from three-point territory... She's shooting 53.8% (7 of 13) from beyond the arc... Her quartet of treys marked the third time in her career she has made that many.
ASANO OPENS SEASON ON STRONG NOTE
G Hana Asano had a game to remember in the Aggies' opener at Seattle, dishing out a career-high nine assists and committing no turnovers in 25 minutes of action... Her assists more than doubled her previous high of four which she did twice last year... Asano had four games last year with at least four assists and no turnovers.
UC DAVIS RETURNS 11 LETTERWINNERS
It's nice to have experience and the Aggies have plenty of it in 2009-10... UC Davis welcomes back 11 letterwinners - 10 from last season and one from 2007-08 - after losing just one player (G Genevieve Costello) to graduation... The 10 returners from last year represent 86.7 percent of its scoring and 93.2 percent of its rebounding... The Aggies played last year with six players who were either true freshman or redshirt freshman... Those players combined to start 85 games.
DONAGHE GETS EXTRA YEAR
W Haylee Donaghe was granted a clock extension in October 2008 by the NCAA due to injuries earlier in her Aggie career... That gave her two years of eligibility at the time but, unfortunately, a knee injury suffered at South Dakota State last December cut short one of those seasons... Donaghe completed her undergraduate degree in exercise biology in June 2008 and is currently enrolled in graduate studies at UC Davis, expecting to graduate with her master's degree in exercise biology next spring.
DONAGHE ON 1,000-POINT WATCH
W HALEY DONAGHE needs 277 points to become the 14th player in program history - and the first since W Jessica Campbell (1,413) and P Ellen Porshneva (1,251) both did it two seasons ago... Donaghe needs to average 10.2 points over UC Davis 29 games in order to reach the mileston... She averaged 10.3 ppg in 2006-07 and 12.3 ppg in 2007-08 and was at an 11.6 ppg clip last year before being injured... Donaghe is also No. 8 all-time with 156 steals and with two more will tie former C AIMEE CONNER (1989-93) who had 158... She is also tied for third for most steals in game with 9, gaining those in the opener at Southern Utah last season.
SIMPSON BECOMES ALL-TIME WINS LEADER
With a 53-50 win at Cal State Northridge last Mar. 4, Head coach Sandy Simpson became the all-times win leader at UC Davis with 206... He owns a career mark in 13 seasons of 208-135 (.606)... He picked up his 200th career win on Jan. 4 with an 86-66 victory over visiting Cal State Northridge... Simpson surpassed 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.
MINTUN MOVING UP BLOCKS LIST
P Paige Mintun finished last season with 31 blocked shots, giving her 59 for her career and moving her up to No. 7 on the career list... She now has 62 blocks after three so far this season... Her single-season totals from last year and in 2007-08 (26) rank her 7th and T-9th, respectively, on that ledger.
RECENT TREND CONTINUES
Each of UC Davis' three games so far this year have been decided by double-digits, marking the third straight year at least the first three games have gone that way... It took until the ninth game of hte 2007-08 campaign before the Aggies played a relatively close game, going 5-3 to that point.
HALL OF FAMERS ON STAFF
The Aggies are fortunate to have a talented staff to support head coach Sandy Simpson... Associate head coach Jennifer Gross, now in her 6th year, and administrative assistant Therese Cardinet, are both members of the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame... Gross helped lead UC Davis to a 29-3 record and third-place NCAA Div. II finish during 1996-97 and still holds the program's career assist mark with 448... Cardinet, in her 22nd year with the program, had 846 points, 182 assists and 329 rebounds during her career in the late 1970's.
UC DAVIS SCORES BIG ON ALL-BIG WEST TEAMS
The Aggies were well-represented on the All-Big West Conference teams last year, despite finishing 7-9 in league and in fifth place... P Paige Mintun, who led the team in scoring (13.0 ppg), rebounding (6.4 rpg) and blocks (31), was named to the All-BWC first team... W Lauren Juric, who canned 35 three-pointers, was named the Big West Freshman of the Year... W Kasey Riecks, who started all 29 games, was selected to the All-Freshman team... She and Juric were also tabbed honorable mention all-league.
UC DAVIS TO BE TESTED WITH SCHEDULE
The Aggies will face a 2009-10 schedule that features teams from the Big XII, Pac-10 and Big East conferences during a rugged nonconference slate... Among the teams they will face are preseason No. 2 Stanford (Nov. 22), NCAA Tournament team Kansas State (Dec. 29) and Women's National Invitational Tournament participant Creighton (Nov. 27)... The Aggies will also battle rival UC Santa Barbara twice during the league season... The Gauchos advanced to last year's NCAA postseason with the Big West's automatic berth... UC Riverside, another Big West foe, earned a spot in the WNIT.
LAST GAME: NO. 2 STANFORD 76, UC DAVIS 51
All-America C Jayne Appel scored a game-high 18 points while F Kayla Pedersen had 17 points and 11 rebounds as second-ranked Stanford remained unbeaten with a nonconference women's basketball win before 1,759 fans at The Pavilion on Sunday afternoon... W Haylee Donaghe led the Aggies with 11 points and five rebounds while P Lisa Peterson came off the bench to score nine points... UC Davis led in the early minutes but hot shooting from beyond the arc helped the Cardinal take control... The Aggies trailed 42-25 at halftime and managed to cut a 27-point deficit later in the game to 17 points before Stanford pulled away.
