Nov. 30, 2010
Game Notes | Listen
GAME 7
No. 18* Saint Mary's (3-3) at No. 15* UC Davis (5-1)
Dec. 1 7 p.m. The Pavilion (7,100) Hamilton Court KDVS (90.3 FM) www.ucdavisaggies.com
* - CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Rankings
OPENING TIPS: The Aggies conclude their first three-game homestand of the season on Wednesday, hosting Saint Mary's which, like UC Davis, is ranked in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25... UC Davis brings an 11-game home winning streak into the contest, the program's longest since winning 18 straight over two seasons from 1998-99... The school standard is 20 straight victories covering parts of two seasons from 1996-97... The Aggies currently have the 16th-longest active home winning streak in Div. I... UC Davis is enjoying its best start since 2007-08 when it won its first five games before losing at Stanford... A victory on Wednesday would provide the Aggies their first 6-1 start since 2001-02 when it jumped to a 6-0 record before losing at Sonoma State... UC Davis currently leads the Big West in nine statistical categories including scoring defense (54.0 ppg), scoring margin (+12.0); FG pct. (.443), assists (16.2 pg) and steals (14.2 pg)... W Vicky Deely, whose 11 three-pointers already are just five off her career-best of 16 from last season, is first in the conference - and 13th nationally - for 3-pt. pct. (.536) and tied for first in the league in treys per game (2.5)... UC Davis is averaging a conference-best 7.8 three-pointers per game... The Aggies' performances so far in steals (12th), made three-pointers per game (22nd) and 3-pt pct. defense (.233) are all ranked among the top 25 of NCAA Div. I teams... UC Davis will take a break for final exams following Wednesday's game, returning to action on Dec. 12 at Kansas State, a team currently receiving votes in the major national polls... Through its first six games, the Aggies have picked up wins against teams from the Pac-10 (Washington State), Southeastern (South Carolina) and West Coast (San Francisco, Pepperdine) conferences, as well as the Ivy League (Yale).
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. SAINT MARY'S: The Aggies hold a slim 9-8 all-time series lead on the Gaels, an advantage that has benefitted from three straight wins since 2007... Their streak came on the heels of three straight wins by Saint Mary's... UC Davis is 5-4 at home against the Gaels while head coach Sandy Simpson is 3-2... Last season, the Aggies outscored Saint Mary's 34-22 after halftime, breaking a 37-37 intermission tie, on their way to a 71-59 road victory... W Heidi Heintz had 15 points and eight rebounds, P Paige Mintun added 12 points and W Kasey Riecks tallied 11.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE GAELS: Saint Mary's posted a 56-50 home win over Wisconsin on Saturday night, snapping a two-game losing streak... Like the Aggies, the Gaels have also beaten Washington State (73-69) and also own a win over Drake... Among their losses is a close 64-63 road defeat to then No. 20 Nebraska on Nov. 20... Saint Mary's is led in scoring by JASMINE SMITH (16.7), KATIE GAZE (11.8) and LOUELLA TOMLINSON (10.8), the latter who is the NCAA's all-time blocked shot leader with 536... She has 24 this season... Smith and Gaze each have 13 treys for the Gaels who are averaging 63.7 ppg and allowing 66.0... Saint Mary's is a very good free throw shooting team, ranking 24th nationally at 77.2%... Nine players average at least 10 min/game.
UC DAVIS RISES IN COLLEGEINSIDER.COM POLL: UC Davis continues to entrench itself as a rising NCAA Division I program, climbing for the third straight week in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll... The Aggies are 15th this week, up one spot from last week's position... After a 2-0 start that included a win over the Pac-10's Washington State, the Aggies were ranked No. 24 on Nov. 16, their debut week in the poll... A 1-1 weekend with tough road games at Pepperdine and UCLA on Nov. 19 and 21 helped vault them to No. 16... The Aggies are the only Big West team in the poll (UC Riverside is receiving votes) while No. 18 Saint Mary's is its only opponent.
UC DAVIS PICKING UP WHERE IT LEFT OFF BEYOND THE ARC: The Aggies set a school record last year with 206 three-pointers, averaging 6.4 pg... UC Davis has continued to keep the foot on the gas pedal, already canning 47 (7.8 pg) through its first six games, best in the Big West... The Aggies had at least seven during their first four games, made a season-best 10 against Washington State and have twice made nine... They rank 22nd nationally for made three-pointers per game but are 108th for pct. (.329), still good enough for second-best in the Big West... The flag-bearer for UC Davis' efforts has been W Vicky Deely who leads the league in both three-pointers per game (2.5, tied) and pct. (.536) and is 12th nationally in the latter... Deely leads the Aggies with 15, a total helped by a career-high five at UCLA (part of 21 pts) on Nov. 21.
DEELY ALSO PITCHING IN WITH REBOUNDS: 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 6.7 through her first six games including a team-high eight in four of the first five... She has led the team in rebounding in five of its six games... Last season, she shared the team lead in rebounds in three games total... Her rebounding this year, combined with her shooting, helped her be named the Big West Player of the Week on Nov. 22 for the first time in her career after averging 16.5 ppg and 7.0 rpg against Pepperdine and UCLA... She is only the Aggies' second winner since the start of 2009-10.
REBOUNDING STILL A CHALLENGE FOR AGGIES: UC Davis only outrebounded five teams last year - and was tied in two others - and were unbeaten in all five... For the season, they were outboarded by nearly six per game.. The 2010-11 season is taking similar shape... The Aggies are averaging 33.5 rpg, allowing 38.5, and have only grabbed more boards than one opponent, a decisive 46-27 advantage in the season-opener at San Francisco... Since then, UCLA (+17) and South Carolina (+18) have owned double-digit rebounding margins... The Aggies are first in the Big West for rebounds allowed (38.5) but eighth in rebounds gained (33.5)... They have been outrebounded on the offensive glass, 91-60, through the first six games.
QUALITY DEPTH RETURNS FOR UC DAVIS IN 2010-11: Depth is once again 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.
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 232-144 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.
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.
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 12 points to become the 14th player in team history to score 1,000 in her career, needs 16 blocks to take over the No. 1 spot from KENDALL GREEN (119; 1992-96) and is 49 rebounds from reaching the 500-board plateau... The two-time All-Big West first-team selection has 60 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 - UC DAVIS 61, SOUTH CAROLINA 52: 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... MARAH STRICKLAND's trey with 16:40 remaining gave South Carolina its biggest lead of the game, 40-24 after the Gamecocks led most of the first half... 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... G Blair Shinoda, P Paige Mintun and W 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... 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... South Carolina held a 24-9 rebounding advantage in the first half.
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.
