Feb. 18, 2009
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
GAME 24
Cal Poly (15-8, 7-4) at UC Davis (9-14, 5-7)
Feb. 19, 7 p.m. The Pavilion (7,100) KDVS (90.3. FM) www.ucdavisaggies.com Big West TV
GAME 25
UC Santa Barbara (16-7, 11-0) at UC Davis
Feb. 21, 4:45 p.m. The Pavilion (7,100) KDVS (90.3. FM) www.ucdavisaggies.com Big West TV
OPENING TIPS
UC Davis tries to extend its current winning streak to a season-high three games when the Aggies began a season-long four-game homestand on Thursday against Cal Poly... After hosting the Mustangs, they'll welcome Big West Conference leader UC Santa Barbara on Saturday afternoon, part of a double-header with the Aggie men's team which will host Fresno State at 7 p.m... UC Davis won back-to-back league games last weekend for the first time since winning road games at Cal Poly and UCSB near the end of last season... The overtime win over the Gauchos last year - the second of two extra-period game the teams played - was also UCSB's only conference loss... UC Davis head coach Sandy Simpson is just one win away from tying former coach JORJA HOEHN (1988-96, `97-98) for most career wins in program history with 205... Simpson had career-win No. 200 against Cal State Northridge on Jan. 4... UC Davis has played strong defense its last three games, holding opponents to just 39.3 ppg and 23.4-percent shooting... Additionally, opponents have averaged just 13.0 ppg in those three first halves... The Aggies enter the week tied for fifth place, two games behind fourth-place Pacific and one in front of sixth-place Cal State Fullerton.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. CAL POLY
UC Davis holds a 19-15 all-time lead but the Mustangs have won three of the past four games including a 64-60 win on Jan. 24 at San Luis Obispo... P Paige Mintun had 22 points and eight rebounds for UC Davis which twice held 10-point leads in the second half before the Mustangs rallied to take the lead for good with 5:20 to go... The Aggies had a chance for a late lead but could not convert... G LISA McBRIDE had 20 points and eight boards for the Mustangs... Cal Poly won its last game at The Pavilion, getting a last-second put-back from G SPARKLE ANDERSON for a 62-61 victory last year.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. UC SANTA BARBARA
The Gauchos took a 17-point lead on Jan. 22 in Santa Barbara, led by as many as 18 in the second half before the Aggies rallied to within eight, and went on for a 64-51 win... That extended their series lead to 11-3... G LAUREN PEDERSEN had a trio of three-pointers and scored 15 points, leading three Gauchos in double-figures, while P Lauren Juric had a team-high 15 points for UC Davis... Both regular-season games between the teams last year went to overtime, including a 62-53 Gaucho win at The Pavilion... The Aggies last beat UCSB in Davis with a 64-56 victory in 2006.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE MUSTANGS
Cal Poly, which had a six-game winning streak snapped by the Gauchos last weekend, 66-62, are currently in third place in the Big West... The Mustangs feature three players averaging double-figure points: KRISTINA SANTIAGO (15.6), MEGAN HARRISON (12.7) and LISA McBRIDE (10.2)... Cal Poly also shoots .437 from the field, best in the conference (UC Davis is second at .413)... Santiago (.564) is the top shooter among league players while McBride's .417 from beyond the arc is also tops... The Mustangs also average a conference-best 17.04 assists per game... Cal Poly is averaging 66.0 ppg while allowing 63.5 ppg.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE GAUCHOS
UCSB has won 13 of its past 14 games, the only blemish coming with a nonconference road loss at Cal State Bakersfield (69-67) on Jan. 31... The Gauchos, who defeated UC Davis in the Big West Tournament final last year, are led in scoring by G LAUREN PEDERSEN (12.6) and JENNA GREEN (11.3)... Green, the Big West Player of the Year two years ago, is averaging a team-high 5.7 rebounds and a league-best 2.19 blocks... The Gauchos lead the league in scoring defense (54.1), scoring margin (+5.8), free throw pct. (.758), field goal defens (.340), 3-pt defense (.274), rebounds allowed (34.3) and defensive rebounds (27.6)... Pedersen has canned a team-high 35 treys and leads the league in free throw pct. (.882), steals (2.65) and is second in assists (4.09).
UC DAVIS 60, CAL STATE FULLERTON 47
Freshman G Hana Asano scored 11 points and UC Davis shot 52.4 percent from the field as the Aggies broke a fifth-place tie in the Big West Conference with Cal State Fullerton, beating the host Titans 60-47 on Saturday afternoon... UC Davis took a 26-16 halftime lead by limiting the Titans to just 23.3 percent from the floor in the first half and only 28 percent from the game. Cal State Fullerton struggled from behind the arc, making just 2 of 19 (10.5 percent) three-point attempts... The Aggies also put the clamps down on F Toni Thomas, the Titans' leading scorer who was held without a field goal and to just four points. G Lauren Chow, who came into the game with 42 three-pointers, was also just held to four points... The lead changed hands five times, all of them occuring early in the game, before UC Davis scored six straight points to forge a 10-5 lead... The lead was just 17-14 with 7 minutes, 4 seconds left in the half before the Aggies closed on a 9-2 run - getting four points from Asano including a trey - to lead 26-16 at halftime... The Titans twice cut 20-point deficits to as few as 12 points in the second half but could get no closer.
TURNING UP THE DEFENSE
UC Davis has gone 2-1 over its last three games and much of the reason can be attributed to good defense... The Aggies have not allowed more than 47 points in any of the games, including holding UC Irvine to just 24 points, the fewest by an opponent since a 108-24 win over Patten College during the 1996-97 season... UC Riverside, UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton combined to average just 39.3 ppg and shoot only .234, including .155 from three-point territory... The first half was especially tough for opponents who averaged just 13 points... Included were just seven points from UC Irvine which reached that total on a three-pointer by REBECCA MAESSEN just before halftime... UC Davis also grabbed more rebounds in two of the games... The last time the Aggies had a better three-game defensive stretch was in the 1996-97 season when they beat Chico State (62-35), Notre Dame de Namur (87-28) and San Francisco State (67-47) for an average of 36.7 ppg allowed.
AMERICA'S TOP 100
The Aggies currently rank among the top 100 NCAA Division I teams in free throw pct. (.752, 14th), 3-point pct. (.355, 37th), 3-pointers made (6.4, 46th ), scoring defense (58.9, 82nd), field goal pct. (.413, 88th) and field goal .pct defense (.377, 94th).
SPREADING THE SHOTS AROUND
Led by 29 three-pointers from G Genevieve Costello, the Aggies have made 147 for the season... Seven of the nine active players have made at least 13 each with a trio of players (Costello, P LAUREN JURIC-27, W CORTNEY FRENCH-23) each making at least 20.
PUTTING IN THE EXTRA WORK
Due to injuries and a limited roster, two freshmen have been getting extra-long run on the court... G Hana Asano (38.7 min/gm) and W Kasey Riecks (36.7) have barely sat in the last three games... Riecks played all 45 in the overtime loss to UC Riverside.
LOSSES... BUT CLOSE ONES
UC Davis ended a five-game losing streak, its longest since 1987-88, with its win at UC Irvine last week... However, the last four losses of this year's streak were decided by a total of 11 points including a 47-44 overtime loss to second-place UC Riverside in which the Aggies played with just seven players (six of them freshmen) due to injuries.
RIECKS STANDS ALONE
W Kasey Riecks is the only player to have started every game this season but is just one of four to have started at least 20 of the 23 games... P Paige Mintun, P Lauren Juric and G Genevieve Costello are the others... Despite the consistency with that quartet, UC Davis has still used seven different starting lineups, primarily because of injuries.
INJURIES SIDELINE AGGIES
UC Davis has been hampered with injuries throughout the season with players combining to miss 46 games so far this season... All-Big West W Haylee Donaghe (knee) became injured against South Dakota State in mid-December and will be sidelined the remainder of the season... Donaghe, who already had two seasons impacted due to unrelated injuries, received an NCAA clock extension in October and will be eligible to play in 2009-10... W Vicky Deely (leg) has played just three games, most recently the first two games of the Big West season, and will not play the rest of this season... P Lisa Peterson missed six games while four others have also been sidelined.
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 204-129 (.613)... With 204, he needs just two 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.
