SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -
Paige Mintun scored 17 points,
Heidi Heintz had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and UC Davis played strong down the stretch after host UC Santa Barbara rallied from an early 15-point deficit as the Aggies beat the Gauchos 62-54 in a Big West Conference women's basketball game before 345 fans at The Thunderdome on Saturday afternoon.
The victory allowed the Aggies to stay a half-game back of Cal Poly atop the league standings, improving to 15-7 overall and 7-2 in the Big West Conference standings. UCSB, which received five three-pointers and 17 points from guard Emilie Johnson, had its modest two-game winning streak ended, falling to 8-14 overall and 5-5 in the Big West.
UC Davis also swept the regular-season series from the Gauchos for the first time after also winning in Davis last month, 54-49. Kasey Riecks had a trio of thre-pointers and added 11 points in Saturday's win while Mintun's 17 points included a career-high tying three treys.
The Aggies had a great start against UCSB, scoring the game's first five points and then eventually leading 17-2 with less than 10 minutes gone. But the Gauchos rallied to within 25-23 at halftime and eventually tied the game 43-43 with 8 minutes, 38 seconds left on a three-pointer from Johnson. But a layup from Heintz and a three-pointer from Hana Asano pushed the lead back to five.
UCSB twice cut it back down to two points but a key 8-0 run, capped by a three-point play from Heintz with 1:57 to go made it 58-49. The Aggies missed four straight free throws in the final minute but the Gauchos weren't able to capitalize, committing five turnovers.
"I thought both teams showed a lot of grit tonight," said Aggie coach Sandy Simpson. "Every time we would get out four, five or six points, they would come back. To our credit we responded each time they did that. I thought the difference was how we took care of the basketball in the second half, and the big thing was rebounding."
UCSB outrebounded UC Davis 46-19 during their earlier meeting but the Aggies turned the tables for a 34-32 advantage on Saturday. Heintz was a big reason, grabbing 10 - including four on the offensive side - while delivering UC Davis its first double-double of the season. The Aggies had 11 offensive rebounds in the second half.
The Aggies took quick control in the first half, getting a three-pointer from Riecks and a layup from Mintun to lead 5-0 after a minute. A 10-0 run, punctuated by back-to-back driving layups from Vicky Deely helped make it 17-2 with 10:28 left as the defense frustrated the Gauchos.
A 23-12 lead with just under five to play nearly evaporated as the Gauchos finished the half on an 11-2 run. Chris Spencer had four points to help key that rally. UC Davis was in front 41-33 with 12:27 left in the game after Deely's third layup but UCSB scored 10 of the next 12 points to knot the game 43-43 and setting up the strong Aggie finish.
UC Davis, which has won eight of its last nine games, will continue on the road on Thursday when it visits Pacific for a 7 p.m. Big West matchup.
