Feb. 4, 2009
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
GAME 20
Long Beach State (4-16, 1-7) at UC Davis (7-12, 3-5)
Feb. 5, 7 p.m. • The Pavilion (7,100) • KDVS (90.3. FM) • www.ucdavisaggies.com • Big West TV
GAME 21
UC Riverside (11-9, 7-1) at UC Davis
Feb. 7, 7 p.m. • The Pavilion (7,100) • KDVS (90.3. FM) • www.ucdavisaggies.com • Big West TV
OPENING TIPS: UC Davis tries to snap a three-game losing streak while winning its second straight at home when the Aggies begin the second half of the Big West Conference season on Thursday against Long Beach State followed by a Saturday evening matchup against second-place UC Riverside... UC Davis is tied for fifth place with Cal State Fullerton with both teams a game in front of Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine, and two back of Cal Poly and Pacific... The Aggies' schedule turns around for the rest of the league season with five of the final eight games at The Pavilion... UC Davis shot 44.9 percent in its narrow loss at Pacific last Saturday, its best performance from the field since hitting 48.3 percent against Cal State Northridge in its Big West opener... The Aggies scored 60 points in each of their last two games, giving them seven games with at least that many points but marking the first two times they've come up on the losing end.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. LONG BEACH STATE: The Aggies earned a hard-fought 55-54 win over Long Beach State on Jan. 10, a game which wasn't decided until W Kasey Riecks hit two free throws with 2.1 seconds remainig after being fouled... The victory was UC Davis' fourth straight over the 49ers, closing Long Beach State's all-time lead to 7-5... P Paige Mintun scored 17 points for the Aggies while Riecks had 15 and W Lauren Juric added 12... The Aggies trailed 51-44 with 4:38 remaining before rallying to win... G LAUREN SIMS hit five three-pointers and had a game-high 19 points for Long beach State.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. UC RIVERSIDE: The Highlanders snapped a two-game losing streak to UC Davis - one which came in last year's Big West Tournament semifinals - with a close 56-52 win on Jan. 8 at Riverside... The Aggies enjoyed a 46-38 lead with 7:02 to go but the Highalnders close with an 18-6 run to record the win which narrowed UC Davis' all-time lead to 19-13... W Kasey Riecks scored 12 points for UC Davis while G Genevieve Costello hit a trio of three-pointers and scored 11 while playing all but one minute... G SEYRAM GBEWONYO had nine points for UC Riverside while C KEMIE NKELE had nine points and 11 boards.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE 49ERS: Long Beach State earned its first conference win with a 54-51 road win at Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 29 before returning home to lose to UC Irvine 66-62 last Saturday... LYNEA WILLIAMS came off the bench to score a game-high 13 points in the 49ers victory while adding a team-best 16 points versus the Anteaters... G WHITNEY FIELDS leads the team in both scoring (11.2) and rebounding (8.2), adding 16 blocks and a team-high 33 steals... COURTNEY JACOB (10.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 31 treys) is second in both scoring and rebounding... Long Beach State is holding opponents to .395 from the field, fourth-best in the league.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE HIGHLANDERS: UC Riverside, trying to keep pace with UC Santa Barbara which leads its by one game in the league standings, enters the week with a seven-game winning streak... The Highlanders are only averaging 57.2 ppg of offense but are doing it on the defensive end where they are allowing 55.5 ppg and .370 shooting, both second-best in the conference... Their .289 allowance from beyond the arc is also second among league teams... C KEMIE NKELE, already named as Big West Player of the Week four times this season, leads the team with a 17.7 ppg. average while also pacing the Highlanders with 7.8 rebounds per game... She has 28 blocks and is shooting .415 from the field... G SEYRAM GBEWONYO (9.9) and G RONEY FRIEND (9.6) are close to double-digits in scoring... Nkele (39) and Gbewonyo (25) lead the team in three-pointers... UC Riverside is shooting just .646 from the line.
PACIFIC 63, UC DAVIS 60: Janae 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 in a Big West Conference women's basketball game at the Alex G. Spanos Center on Saturday afternoon... 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, G 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... P Paige Mintun scored 17 points and posted six rebounds for the Aggies while freshman W Kasey Riecks had 14 points.
MINTUN LEADS AGGIES: P Paige Mintun continues to pace the Aggies in several statistical categories including scoring (13.6 ppg), rebounding (6.4 rpg), blocks (17) and steals (32)... In conference games, she's upped her scoring to 15.5 ppg while improving her shooting to .500... Mintun is currnelty fifth in the Big West in scoring for all games, seventh in rebounds, sixth in field goal percentage and fourth in free throws... She's had three games with at least 20 points including a career-high 25 against Cal State Northridge on Jan. 4.
JURIC A BIG THREAT FROM OUTSIDE THE ARC: W Lauren Juric has hit her stride from three-point territory, making seven of her last night attempts over the Aggies' past three games... The streak has pushed her season percentage to .400 - second-best in the conference - while giving her 22 treys overall, second-best on the team... Juric made her first six three-pointers during a weekend trip to UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly before finally missing.
AGGIES CONTINUE TO RANK AMONG NCAA'S BEST AT LINE: UC Davis is shooting .750 from the line, ranking second in the Big West behind UC Santa Barbara and 20th among all NCAA Division I teams... The Aggies have only shot lower than 73 percent once during their first eight Big West games... Their .797 at the line during league games is tops... Despite that performance, UC Davis only has two players (W Kasey Riecks, .840; P Paige Mintun, .810) ranking among the Big West's top 10 for conference games... Riecks is seventh and Mintun is eighth.
AGGIE TRIO SCORING WELL IN BIG WEST: UC Davis has three players averaging in double figures over the first eight games of the Big West season... P Paige Mintun (15.5), W Kasey Riecks (11.4) and W Lauren Juric (10.3) have formed a balanced trio for the Aggies... Juric has a 12 three-pointers in league play, Riecks is shooting 84 percent from the line and Mintun is making nearly 50 percent of her field goal attempts... For the season, only Mintun (13.6) is averaging in double figures.
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 50 games, including all 19 by W Kasey Riecks.
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 202-127 (.614)... 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.
