Nov. 25, 2010
Game Notes 
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GAME 5
Yale (1-3) at No. 16 (mid-major) UC Davis (3-1)
Nov. 26 5 p.m. The Pavilion (7,100) Hamilton Court KDVS (90.3 FM)
www.ucdavisaggies.com
GAME 6
South Carolina (2-2) at UC Davis
Nov. 28 2 p.m. The Pavilion (7,100) Hamilton Court KDVS (90.3 FM)
www.ucdavisaggies.com
OPENING TIPS: UC Davis returns home to begin the first of four three-game homestands, facing Yale for the second consecutive year - and the second time ever - and South Carolina, one of two newcomers to the schedule along with Wichita State (Dec. 14)... The Aggies split a pair of games on the road last weekend but still jumped eight spots to No. 16 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25... The weekend provided a showcase for sophomore W Vicky Deely who was named the Big West Conference Player of the Week after averaging 16.5 ppg and 7.0 rpg... She highlighted her week with a career-high 21 points at then No. 15 UCLA, recording five three-pointers along the way, also a career-best... Deely has led the team in rebounding all four games and is averaging 7.5 rpg, all while coming off the bench... UC Davis has used the same starting five in each game so far: P Paige Mintun, W Heidi Heintz, G Hana Asano, W Kasey Riecks and W Samantha Meggison... The 49 points scored against UCLA were the Aggies' lowest since losing 69-48 at Cal Poly last season.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. YALE & SOUTH CAROLINA: The Aggies played Yale last season, making a two-game East Coast roadtrip that also included a 58-54 loss at Seton Hall... The Dec. 19 matchup between UC Davis and Yale was the first between the teams... W Kasey Riecks and G Haylee Donaghe scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, as the Aggies won a close 60-55 game.. F MOLLY GOBRECHT had 16 points to pace Yale which outrebounded UC Davis 41-28... The Aggies had a season-high tying 19 steals... Sunday's meeting between UC Davis and South Carolina is the first between the programs... The Aggies have not faced a team from South Carolina.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE BULLDOGS: Yale opened the season with a win against Holy Cross on Nov. 12 (74-71) but has dropped games at Boston University (84-63), at home against Delaware (79-61) and, most recently, at California (64-41) on Tuesday... The Bulldogs are allowing 74.3 ppg, are being outrebounded 48.5-31.5 rpg and are allowing opponents to shoot 48.9% from the field... G MEGAN VAZQUEZ (12.2 ppg) and F MADY GOBRECHT (10.5) are each averaging in double figures with G ALLIE MESSIMER (9.8) close... Yale opened their current roadtrip at Cal, getting 11 points from Vazquez and 10 from Gobrecht... The Bulldogs struggled from beyond the arc, making just 1 of 19... They shot just 22.2% (16 of 72) from the field.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE LADY GAMECOCKS: South Carolina is coming off a 78-48 loss at Penn State on Sunday and will face No. 3/2 Stanford before heading to UC Davis... The Lady Gameocks own wins over Illinois (61-48) and Clemson (73-59) after opening the year with a home loss to then No. 5/6 Xavier... South Carolina is being led in scoring by IEASIA WALKER (15.2) and LA'KEISHA SUTTON (11.3) and is averaging 61.8 ppg... The Lady Gamecocks are converting just 36.3% from the field and only 57.7% from the line but are outboarding their opponents (41.2-35.0 rpg.)... Walker and MARAH STRICKLAND each have four three-pointers to lead the team which is 14 of 59 (.237) from three-point... Walker has been effective on defense, averaging 2.5 steals per game... ASHLEY BRUNER has been tough on the boards, averaging 9.0 pg including 15 against Xavier and 11 versus Illinois... South Carolina is coached by three-time Olympic gold medalist DAWN STALEY.
UC DAVIS DEBUTS IN COLLEGEINSIDER.COM POLL: UC Davis took another stride in building its fledgling NCAA Division I program when it made its first appearance on Nov. 16 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll... After a 2-0 start that included a win over the Pac-10's Washington State, the Aggies were ranked No. 24... A 1-1 weekend with tough road games at Pepperdine and UCLA helped vault them to No. 16 this week... The Aggies are the only Big West team in the poll while No. 20 Saint Mary's is its only opponent.
TURNOVERS SLOW AGGIES' ATTACK: Despite a win over Pepperdine and a respectable showing against nationally ranked UCLA, the Aggies were victims of a higher-than-usual amount of turnovers... They had 32 against the Waves before adding 30 against the Bruins... UC Davis went last season without more than 28 turnovers in a game... The 62 in back-to-back outings were the team's highest since 48 against Cal State Bakersfield (20) and Pacific (28) last Jan. 18 and 23, respectively.
THREE-POINTERS OFF TO ANOTHER HOT START: The Aggies set a school record last year with 206 three-pointers, averaging 6.4 pg... UC Davis is picking up where it left off, already canning 34 (8.5 pg) through its first four games... They haven't had less than seven in a game so far and made a season-best 10 (of 32) against Washington State on Nov. 14... W Vicky Deely has made 11 - including five at UCLA - to lead all players.
SPEAKING OF DEELY: Making three-pointers hasn't been W Vicky Deely's only big contribution to the Aggies this season; she's also been tough on the boards... Deely entered the season averaging just 3.0 rpg but is averaging 7.5 through her first four games including eight in each of the first three... Deely has led the Aggies in rebounding every game... Her rebounding combined with her shooting to help her be named the Big West Player of the Week on Monday for the first time in her career... She is only the Aggies' second winner since the start of 2009-10.
QUALITY DEPTH RETURNS FOR UC DAVIS IN 2010-11: Depth will once again be an asset for the Aggies who return nine letterwinners from last year's 21-11 team, and 10 letterwinners overall... Four starters - P Paige Mintun (13.0), W Heidi Heintz (10.8), W Kasey Riecks (9.7) and G Hana Asano (4.7) - represent 56% percent of the Aggies' scoring from last year... The Aggies used most of their roster last season with Asano (28.9) averaging the most minutes and and nine of the 12 players playing at least 11.1 mpg... Mintun, Heintz and G Anna Harp are the only seniors on the team... Five juniors, two sophomores and three freshmen comprise the rest of the active roster.
AGGIES PICKED TO WIN THE BIG WEST: For the first time, UC Davis is the media's selection to capture the Big West Championship, receiving 16 of 25 first-place votes and 210 points overall to finish ahead of Cal Poly (183 pts), UC Riverside (182) and UC Santa Barbara (164) in the top four... UC Davis was selected second last year... For the second straight year, P Paige Mintun was voted to the preseason All-Big West team.
SIMPSON ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: HEAD COACH Sandy Simpson announced in October that the upcoming 2010-11 season will be his last in order to spend more time with his family... Simpson, in his 14th season, has a 230-144 overall record and is the program's all-time leader for wins... He has been coaching for 33 seasons overall including a tenure as an assistant at UC Davis prior to becoming head coach... Simpson led the Aggies to a program-best 29-3 record as interim coach in 1997 as UC Davis finished third at the NCAA Division II Elite Eight Championships... Associate head coach Jennifer Gross, who played on the 1997 squad, has been named as Simpson's replacement on a permanent basis beginning next season.
MINTUN APPROACHING MILESTONES: P Paige Mintun is closing in on several personal milestones and already has her named entrenched on several career lists... She needs 41 points to become the 14th player in team history to score 1,000 in her career, needs 22 blocks to take over the No. 1 spot from KENDALL GREEN (119; 1992-96) and is 56 rebounds from reaching the 500-board plateau... The two-time All-Big West first-team selection has 58 career three-pointers - 31 last year - and is a career 73% free throw shooter.
UC DAVIS ALREADY ENJOYING DIV. I SUCCESS: The Aggies have only been a member of the NCAA Division I for three seasons but have already built one of the leading programs in the Big West... They have earned two trips to the Big West Tournament Championship (2008, 2010), two berths to the WNIT (2008, 2010), have placed one player on the All-BWC first team each season - including P Paige Mintun each of the last two years - and have claimed a regular-season title (2010)... Additionally, HEAD COACH Sandy Simpson is a two-time Big West Coach of the Year.
LAST GAME - NO. 15 UCLA 65, UC DAVIS 49: Fifteenth-ranked UCLA went on a 13-0 run during the latter part of the first half last Sunday, breaking away from UC Davis and posting a nonconference women's basketball victory at legendary Pauley Pavilion... Sophomore W Vicky Deely canned a career-high five three-pointers and scored a career-best 21 points for UC Davis... The Aggies, who had 30 turnovers during last Friday's 70-62 win at Pepperdine, were victimized by 32 on Sunday against UCLA which applied fullcourt pressure for much of the game... The Bruins led 17-16 with under eight minutes to go in the first half but keyed by four straight points from ATONYE Nyingifa, went on a 14-0 run over the next four minutes to lead 30-16 with 3:33 left in the half. .. UC Davis held the Bruins to just two points the rest of the way, getting to within 32-21 at halftime after G Hana Asano's steal and layup just before the buzzer... Dixon scored four quick points to start the second half to help the Bruins reopen the lead to 36-21... UCLA led by as much as 45-24 but the Aggies rallied to get within 53-41 with 5:32 remaining after going on a 17-8 run. W Kasey Riecks, W Samantha Meggison and Deely each had treys during that surge... However, that would be as close as the Bruins would let the Aggies get the rest of the way.
SCHEDULE FEATURES A VARIETY OF CONFERENCES: Another challenging schedule awaits UC Davis which this year will face teams from the Pac-10 (Washington State, UCLA), Southeastern (South Carolina), Big 12 (Kansas State) and Missouri Valley (Wichita State) conferences along with matchups against the West Coast, Big Sky and Western Athletic conferences along with the Ivy League.
AGGIES ON THE INTERNET: All UC Davis women's basketball games can be heard on KDVS (90.3 FM) with pregame shows beginning 15 minutes before tipoff... Simulcasts can be heard on www.ucdavisaggies.com... Live stats of all home games and many road games are also available.
