Jan. 18, 2010
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Kasey Riecks scored a game-high 21 points to lead four Aggies in double figures while Paige Mintun - who had 10 - scored five of the game's final six points in the last two minutes as the UC Davis women's basketball team rallied for a thrilling 79-76 nonconference women's basketball win over Cal State Bakersfield at the Icardo Center on Monday afternoon.
The victory extended UC Davis' winning streak to five games, matching its longest of the season and improving its overall record to 12-6. Cal State Bakersfield, in the final year of a four-year reclassification from NCAA Division II to Division I status, had a seven-game home winning streak and three-game run overall snapped, falling to 10-9.
Kelly Tarver had five three-pointers and scored 19 points to pace the Roadrunners and was joined in double figures by Phynique Allen who had 15, Katie Williams who tallied 14 and Amber Williams who scored 10.
Heidi Heintz scored a season-high 17 points and had a team-best seven rebounds for the Aggies who also received 10 points from Haylee Donaghe.
UC Davis shot a season-high 58.8% from the field, including the same percentage from three-point where it was 10 of 17. Cal State Bakersfield was just as dangerous from beyond the arc, making a school-record16 in 32 attempts, including 9 of 15 in the second half. Tied 31-31 at halftime, UC Davis made 69.2% of its shots after intermission.
"It was a total shootout down the stretch," said Aggie coach Sandy Simpson. "The teams were making everything they put up and it was really who was going to get a stop at some point or who was going to have the ball last."
The teams exchanged the lead eight times in the first half with neither going up by more than four points. Riecks helped the Aggies get into the halftime deadlock by scoring 11 points while making both of her three-point tries.
UC Davis twice led by eight points in the second half but couldn't get any separation from the Roadrunners who rallied to within a point and stayed close before tying the game 64-64 on Tarver's trey with 4 minutes, 54 seconds left. The game was tied three more times before Katie Williams' three-pointer in the corner put Cal State Bakersfield in front 76-73 with 1:53 left.
Mintun, though, tied it with a straightaway three-pointer less than 30 seconds later, the Aggies got a turnover, and then Mintun drove to the hoop for a layup with 53 seconds left to put UC Davis up by a pair. The teams traded turnovers before Allen lost control of the ball moving into the key with two seconds left and it went out of bounds. Guard Hana Asano then made 1 of 2 free throws before the clock expired.
Riecks was 8 of 9 from the field as she tied her season-high wth 21 points. Heintz was 6 of 8 and Donaghe converted 5 of 8. Donaghe, who had a game-high five steals, also helped key the defense which held Katie Williams to 14 points, six below her average.
The game was the final nonconference game of the regular season for UC Davis which will return to The Pavilion for two straight Big West Conference games on Saturday against Pacific and then Jan. 28 against UC Riverside. The Aggies are currently tied with Cal Poly atop the league standings with a 4-1 record.
