Nov. 28, 2010

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - Using a 24-7 run over a nearly 12-minute span of the second half, the UC Davis women's basketball team erased a 16-point deficit and beat South Carolina 61-52 on Sunday afternoon at The Pavilion, the program's first-ever win over a Southeastern Conference opponent.

UC Davis swept its weekend games at home, moved to 3-0 on its home floor this year, and improved to 5-1 overall. The Aggies, ranked 16th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll, were led by a season-high 17 points from Heidi Heintz who scored six straight in the second half as the Aggies took their first lead of the game with five minutes to go.

Marah Strickland came off the bench to score a game-high 19 points for South Carolina, hitting five three-pointers, while guard Ieasia Walker had 12 points. The Gamecocks dropped to 2-4 with the loss.

Strickland's trey with 16:40 remaining gave South Carolina its biggest lead of the game, 40-24. However, UC Davis called a timeout and then responded with 14 straight points to climb back to within 40-38 with 12:12 to go. Blair Shinoda, Paige Mintun and Kasey Riecks each had three-pointers during the run as the Aggies - who shot 61% from the field after halftime - made 6 of 7 shots.

The Gamecocks rebuilt the lead to five points but a layup by Hannah Stephens a little later brought UC Davis to within 47-46 while Heintz' layup with 5:01 remaining gave the Aggies their first lead of the game, 48-47.

"It was just a matter of not trying to get it all back at one time," said Aggie coach Sandy Simpson. "I asked them to get more aggressive on defense and we did to a degree. We also wanted to be more determined rebounding and look to attack more on the offensive end."

Five straight points, including three from Samantha Meggison gave UC Davis a 55-49 advantage at the two-minute mark, and afer a three-pointer from Strickland cut that lead in half, the Aggies sored the final six points for the nine-point win.

The second half was in stark contrast to the first which was dominated by South Carolina on the boards. UC Davis had just seven turnovers in the first 20 minutes - it had a season-low 10 for the game - while the Gamecocks had 13 but the Aggies were outrebounded 24-9 before intermission.

The Gamecocks never trailed in the first half, using an early 10-2 run over a four-and-half minute span to turn a 2-2 tie into a 12-4 lead with 13:45 to play. Walker's eight points during that surge included a three-pointer. Vicky Deely, though, came in and nailed back-to-back treys for the Aggies who climbed back to 14-12 near the midway point of the half.

Leading 20-15 later in the half, South Carolina pushed its lead to double-digits with a 8-0 run, getting a three-pointer from Strickland with 3:35 left for a 28-15 lead. The Gamecocks led 30-21 at the break.

South Carolina built its lead with a strong effort on the boards, getting six offensive rebounds in its 24 overall. Walker had seven of them while Jewel May had seven. Meggison had five of UC Davis' nine total.

Mintun had nine points for UC Davis in the game while guard Hana Asano had seven. The Aggies were 9 of 23 from beyond the arc and finished at 45% from the field overall.

With the win, UC Davis has now posted victories this season over opponents from the SEC (South Carolina), Pac-10 (Washington State) and West Coast (Pepperdine, San Francisco) conferences, as well as the Ivy League (Yale).

UC Davis will return to action with a 7 p.m. matchup on Wednesday at The Pavilion against Saint Mary's. The Gaels are 3-3 after beating Wisconsin on Saturday, 56-50.