Dec. 9, 2010
Game Notes | Listen
GAME 8
No. 8* UC Davis (6-1) at Kansas State (7-1)
Dec. 12 • Noon (PST) • Bramlage Coliseum (12,528)
KDVS (90.3 FM) • www.ucdavisaggies.com
GAME 9
UC Davis at Wichita State (4-3)
Dec. 14 • 5 p.m. (PST) • Charles Koch Arena (10,512)
KDVS (90.3 FM) • www.ucdavisaggies.com
* - CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25
OPENING TIPS: UC Davis hits the road for the third time this season, beginning a season-long four-game roadtrip that will start with its first trip to the midwest in three seasons... The Aggies begin the trip ranked No. 8 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll, their highest-ever ranking and their first time in the top 10... UC Davis has not played since Dec. 1, taking a break from the schedule for final exams... Kansas State represents the second opponent that has received votes in women's college basketball's two major polls this year, currently ranking just outside the top 25 from the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll... The Wildcats are from the Big 12, the fifth different conference on the Aggies' schedule so far... UC Davis already owns wins over teams from the West Coast, Pac-10 and Southeastern conferences as well as the Ivy League... UC Davis will not play home again until Dec. 27 when it tries to extend its current 12-game home winning streak, tied for the 14th-longest active streak in Div. I... P Paige Mintun surpassed 1,000 career points with her 13 against Saint Mary's and now has 1,001.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. KANSAS STATE & WICHITA STATE: Last year's 73-59 victory by the Wildcats on Hamilton Court was the first-ever meeting between the programs... It was also the last home loss for UC Davis which has rattled off a dozen straight since... F ASHLEY SWEAT scored 25 points to lead five players in double figures... F BRITTANY CHAMBERS and G TAELOR KARR each had 12... Kansas State was especially dangerous from beyond the arc, canning 13 of 25 attempts, including four from Karr and a pair from Chambers... W Cortney French, redshirting for UC Davis this season, had five triples and scored 15 points for UC Davis... The Aggies have never faced Wichita State... UC Davis is 0-1 all-time against the Big 12, 0-4 versus the Missouri Valley Conference and 1-2 against teams from Kansas overall (1-1 vs. Emporia State)... This trip represents the Aggies' first games on Kansas soil.
A QUICK LOOK AT KANSAS STATE: Kansas State, whose only loss was 68-62 at Iowa last Sunday, is 6-0 at home... F BRITTANY CHAMBERS (16.1), JALANA CHILDS (11.6) and G TAELOR KARR (11.0) lead the Wildcats in scoring... Chambers has 22 three-pointers and is averaging 5.0 rpg while BRANSHEA BROWN (6.8) leads the team on the boards... G MARIAH WHITE is averaging 4.5 apg for Kansas State which is outscoring opponents 63.5-51.5 ppg... The Wildcats' defense entering the week ranked 18th in Division I while their .348 FG pct. defense is 40th... Kansas State is coming off a 76-49 home win over North Dakota on Wednesday evening... It took a 34-16 halftime lead, outscored UND 40-18 in the paint overall and had 21 assists on 33 baskets... Karr had a game-high 16 points while Chambers finished with a game-high six assists.
A QUICK LOOK AT WICHITA STATE: The Shockers will host Savannah State on Friday before entertaining the Aggies on Tuesday night... After droppings its opener against Arizona (81-72) on Nov. 12, Wichita State rattled off three straight wins including a 67-58 at the Big West's Cal State Northridge... It's lost two of their past three - both defeats coming on the road - picking up a win on Dec. 2 over Santa Clara (64-49), the Aggies' next home opponent... The Shockers are 2-1 at home... HALEIGH LANKSTER (13.4) is pacing the team in scoring and has a team-best 15 steals... She is the only player in double figures and one of two with a team-high nine three-pointers... MICHELLE PRICE (6.1) leads the team on the boards... Wichita State is outscoring its opponents, 64.1-60.0, and is barely being outboarded, 39.1-38.0... Lankster is shooting 51.6% from the field.
HOME WINNING STREAK AMONG BEST IN DIV. I: UC Davis owns a 14-game home winning streak - its best since winning 18 straight over the part of two seasons from 1998-99 - and is tied with Duke for the 14th-longest active streak in Div. I... The school record is 20 straight over two seasons from 1996-97... Connecticut has won 67 straight at home while Stanford is at 49 to rank as the two best active streaks in Div. I.
UC DAVIS ENJOYING A HOT START: The Aggies are 6-1 for the first time since the 2001 - when they were in Div. II - and are looking to go 7-1 for the first time since that same season... They won nine of their first 11 that year on their way to an 18-9 record... A midwest sweep in their next two games would make the Aggies 8-1 for the first time since 1998-99 when they were 25-4... Since beginning official Div. I status in 2007, UC Davis has started 5-0 (2007), 4-2 (2008) and 6-3 (2009).
MINTUN REACHES MILESTONE WITH MORE IN SIGHT: P Paige Mintun became the 14th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points when she canned a three-pointer during the Aggies' win against Saint Mary's... Mintun, who has 1,001 points, is the first player to reach the four-digit barrier since W Jessica Campbell (1,413, 2nd) and P Ellen Porshneva (1,251, 5th) both did it during the 2007-08 season... Mintun also needs just 46 rebounds for 500 and with 106 blocks needs just 14 to become the program leader... W KENDALL GREENE had 119 career swats between 1992-96 to set the standard.
DEELY ENJOYING BREAKOUT SEASON: W Vicky Deely averaged 5.2 ppg and 2.9 rpg last season, converting 16 three-pointers along the way... She also entered the year with career-highs of 15 points and six rebounds... Just seven games into the 2010-11 season, Deely is already surpassing those numbers, setting herself for a big sophomore campaign... Deely, who has usually been the first Aggie off the bench, is second on the team in scoring (12.3), has a team-high 18 treys and leads the team in rebounding (6.1)... She led UC Davis in rebounding each of the first five games, had a career-high 21 points at then No. 15 UCLA which included a personal-best five treys, then eclipsed her scoring high with 22 against Saint Mary's... Deely is currently fifth among Div. I players in three-point pct. (.545) and 56th in treys per game (2.6)... Deely played sparingly her freshman season - gaining the year back on a medical hardship waiver - and played in all 32 games last season... Scoring is no stranger to Deely who had more than 2,500 points as a standout at Justin-Siena HS in Sonoma.
AGGIES CONTINUE TO CLIMB IN MID-MAJOR POLL: UC Davis cracked the top 10 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 this week for the first time, jumping seven spots to No. 8... The Aggies debuted in the rankings at No. 24 after a 2-0 start that included a win over the Pac-10's Washington State, moved to No. 16 following a split at Pepperdine and current No. 10 UCLA, and then were at No. 15 last week after two home wins over Yale and South Carolina... A Dec. 1 victory over Saint Mary's, which was 18th in the mid-major poll at the time, helped propel them to their current ranking... The No. 19 Gaels are the only UC Davis opponent in this week's poll while conference foes UC Riverside and UC Irvine are each receiving votes.
AGGIES' DEPTH HAS BEEN A BIG KEY: 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 233-144 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.
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 71, SAINT MARY'S 62: UC Davis overcame an early 11-0 deficit with a 24-12 run to take a lead it would not relinquish, as the Aggies beat visiting Saint Mary's in a nonconference game on Dec. 1, the Aggies' 12th straight win on Hamilton Court... UC Davis received a career-high 22 points from W Vicky Deely who had three key three-pointers in the first half.. UC Davis led 64-45 with four minutes remaining before the Gaels rallied down the stretch to close the gap... P Paige Mintun went over the 1,000-point barrier with a straightaway three-pointer with 4:38 left in the game.
