Dec. 1, 2009
Complete game notes vs. Saint Mary's and Santa Clara in PDF Format (updated Dec. 3) 
GAME 6
UC Davis (2-3) at Saint Mary's (3-3)
Dec. 1, 7 p.m. McKeon Pavilion (3,500) KDVS (90.3 FM) www.ucdavisaggies.com
GAME 7
UC Davis at Santa Clara (1-4)
Dec. 3, 7 p.m. Leavey Center (4,500) KDVS (90.3 FM) www.ucdavisaggies.com
OPENING TIPS
UC Davis looks to snap a two-game losing streak when it begins a busy three-game week, including a pair of games against West Coast Conference opponents Saint Mary's and Santa Clara to start... The Aggies are 5-8 (.385) against WCC competition since beginning to play NCAA Division I schedules in 2005-06... UC Davis enters the week leading Big West teams in scoring defense (59.8 ppg), scoring margin (+1.4 ppg), 3-pt percentage (.382) and steals (11.0 pg)... W Haylee Donaghe is tied for the top spot among conference individuals in steals (2.2 pg) while P Paige Mintun is second for assist/turnover ratio (2.13)... The Aggies have been balanced in their scoring attack, tallying half (153) of their 306 total points in the first half and the remainder in the second half and overtime periods... UC Davis will take a break from the schedule following Saturday's home matchup with Denver for final exams.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. SAINT MARY'S & SANTA CLARA
UC Davis is tied in the all-time series with Saint Mary's, 8-8, while trailing Santa Clara in their history, 5-8... The Aggies and Gaels have met four times since the start of the 2004-05 season with Saint Mary's winning the first two and UC Davis capturing the last two, including an 85-69 victory on Hamilton Court last season... The Aggies won five of the first six games in the series which began during the 1978-79 campaign... P Paige Mintun scored 18 points to lead three Aggies in double figures during last year's win... W Haylee Donaghe led UC Davis with a game-high 19 points during its 62-54 home win last season over Santa Clara... Mintun pitched in with 15 points and a game-best five assists... The Aggies' win last year was its first over the Broncos since the 1988-89 campaign.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE GAELS
Saint Mary's has alternated wins and losses through its first six games but holds a 3-1 record at home... It's led by LOUELLA TOMLINSON (17.2) and ASHLEE SMITH (12.3) in scoring with Tomlinson completing a double-double average with 10.2 rpg... The Gaels split a pair of home games last weekend, downing Drake 76-73 on Friday and then losing to Nebraska 84-73 on Saturday... Tomlinson scored 26 points on 13-of-17 shooting in the win before scoring 12 and grabbing 11 boards in the loss to go along with six blocks... Saint Mary's is averaging 72.7 ppg, slightly less than the 73.3 its giving up... They are outrebounding opponents by 2.2 rpg.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE BRONCOS
Santa Clara opened its year with a convincing 73-43 win over Sonoma State but has lost its last four including a 59-54 home loss to Utah on Sunday... The Broncos are paced in scoring by LENA GIPSON and ALYSSA SHOJI who are each scoring at 13.2 ppg clip... Shoji has been helped by a team-high 12 three-pointers... Gipson (8.2 pg) and MAGGIE GOLDENBERGER (5.8) lead Santa Clara in rebounding which is being outboarded by 7.6 pg... They're being outscored by almost seven points per game (66.8-60.0)...The Broncos, shooting .382 from the field, are making .641 from the line.
LAST GAME: CREIGHTON 63, UC DAVIS 61
Kelsey Woodard made a layup from the left side of the key with one second left in overtime on Friday night, capping her game-high 22 points, as visiting Creighton edged UC Davis at The Pavilion. P Paige Mintun led UC Davis with 13 points while W Heidi Heintz had 11 and W Vicky Deely came off the bench for 10... Sam Schuett scored 14 points while G Chevelle Herring had 10 for Creighton which made a season-high 16 three-pointers... The Bluejays, who led 43-33 at halftime, scored just 20 points after intermission, all of them on three-pointers except for Woodard's winning points.
WEST COAST CONFERENCE PROVIDES FAMILIAR FACES
UC Davis is 5-8 (.385) against WCC teams since starting to play Div. I schedules in 2004-05... That's the bad news... The good news is the Aggies have on their last four... They defeated USF, Santa Clara and Saint Mary's last season before starting three games against WCC foes this year with a win over USF on Nov. 17 at The Pavilion.
REBOUNDING A TOUGH GO FOR UC DAVIS
The Aggies have yet to outrebound an opponent, having lost the battle of the board four consecutive games since matching Seattle with 29 in the opener... Not surprisingly, the biggest disparity came against No. 2 Stanford which outrebounded the Aggies by 19 on Nov. 22... Only once, against USF, has the difference been in single digits.
DEFENSE OFF TO A GOOD START UC Davis finished third in the Big West last year in scoring defense at 59.3 ppg and is off to a nearly identical start this year, allowing just 59.8 ppg through its first six matchups... The Aggies are the only Big West team below 60.0 ppg and rank 100th nationally.
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 34 career games, made her first three shots from beyond the arc against Seattle.
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 270 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. 7 all-time with 160 steals, passing former C AIMEE CONNER (1989-93) who had 158 after garnering four last game... 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 208-136 (.605)... 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... She now has 65 blocks after six so far this season including a career-high tying three versus Creighton and is No. 6 all-time... Her single-season totals from last year and in 2007-08 (26) rank her 7th and T-9th, respectively, on that ledger.
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.
