Box Score March 12, 2010
Final Stats
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Paige Mintun scored a team-high 15 points and the UC Davis women's basketball team opened a 14-point halftime lead as the Aggies beat UC Santa Barbara 63-53 on Friday afternoon at the Anaheim Convention Center, advancing to the Big West Tournament championship for the second time in three seasons.
UC Davis, top-seeded in the tournament, improved to 21-9 overall and will face third-seeded UC Riverside (16-15) for the right to go to the NCAA Tournament. The game will be broadcast on FSN PrimeTicket beginning at 1 p.m. The teams split their two games this season, each defending their home floor.
UC Riverside held off second-seeded Cal Poly 54-51 in the other semifinal.
UCSB, a 13-time conference champion, ended its season 15-17 after seeing its seven-game winning streak come to an end. Meagan Williams scored 17 points to pace the Gauchos while Mekia Valentine had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
The Aggies led 38-24 at halftime but saw that lead dwindle to just two points late in the second half before turning back the Gauchos' rally. UCSB outrebounded UC Davis 50-22 but had 29 turnovers to the Aggies' 12.
Senior Haylee Donaghe added 12 points for UC Davis while Heidi Heintz and Kasey Riecks each had 10.
"I'm really proud of our kids," said Aggie coach Sandy Simpson. "I thought we were ready come gametime and I thought we managed our emotions well early. We weren't too hyped up but we were excited certainly."
UC Davis, which earned a double-bye into the semifinals after claiming the league's regular-season championship with a 12-4 mark, beat UCSB for the third time this season. The Aggies sparked Friday's win with another display of stifling defense which resulted in 12 steals, six of them by Donaghe, the Big West Defensive Player of the Year.
UC Davis gave up the game's first basket but scored seven of the next nine for an early 7-4 lead. It didn't trail after that. The lead stretched to six points three times in the first half but the Gauchos got to within one before a 9-0 surge put the Aggies up 30-20 with 3 minutes, 19 seconds left.
Mintun's jumper with less than a minute left pushed the lead into double-digits while Riecks' three-pointer just before the buzzer made it 38-24 at halftime.
The Aggies had five three-pointers in the first half, two of them by Mintun who had 10 points. UC Davis also did a good job protecting the ball, turning it over only five times, while the Gauchos had 19. UCSB, though, held a 20-9 lead on the boards.
The Gauchos were able to get as lose as seven during the second half before a free throw from Mintun made it 52-42 with 6:13 to go. UCSB, however, scored nine straight, punctuated by a three-pointer from Ariano Gnekow, to get within 53-51 after a layup from Williams with 3:21 left.
Donaghe answered twice inside, however, sandwiched around a layup from Heintz as UC Davis reasserted control to lead 59-51 with just 1:19 to go. The Gauchos did not get closer the rest of the way.
"UCSB never gave up," said Donaghe. "We had to make plays down the stretch to win this game."
UC Davis scored 29 points off the Gauchos' turnovers and finished shooting 40.4% from the floor. The Aggies were also 7 of 19 from three-point.
The Aggies are looking for their first-ever trip to the NCAA Division I Tournament.
