March 13, 2010

Final Stats

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Amber Cox scored 27 points and Alyssa Morris added 19 on Saturday afternoon as the third-seeded UC Riverside women's basketball team edged top-seeded UC Davis 71-67 at the Anaheim Convention Center, claiming the Big West Tournament championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

The Highlanders, who improved to 17-15, turned away an Aggie team that was making its second appearance in three seasons in the title game.

UC Davis, in only its third year in the Big West, is 21-10. The Aggies won the conference's regular-season title with a 12-4 record and are guaranteed a berth in the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) which begins next week.

The WNIT will announce its first-round matchups on Monday evening. UC Davis played in the WNIT after losing to UC Santa Barbara in the 2008 Big West final.

Heidi Heintz had a career-high 22 points for UC Davis while Paige Mintun contribued 18. Both were named to the all-tournament team.

UC Riverside shot 68.4% from the floor in the second half, including making 8 of 11 three-point attempts.

"It seems like every time we play UC Riverside it's a great game and (today) was no exception," said UC Davis coach Sandy Simpson. "It really came down to it was too much Amber Cox and too much Alyssa Morris. They were just lights out."

The Highlanders held on to win after taking a 67-55 lead with 5 minutes, 39 seconds remaining and then seeing UC Davis, which led by as many as eight points in the first half, storm back to within 67-66 with 1:38 to go. Both Cox and Morris fouled out during that UC Davis run.

UC Davis had two chances in the remaining time to take the lead but could not score. A final opportunity which came after Mintun was fouled with 4.5 seconds left and the Aggies trailing, 69-66 resulted in two free throw attempts. Mintun made the first and intentionally missed the second, but TreShonti Nottingham was fouled on the ensuing scramble for the ball and iced the game with two free throws.

Nottingham was 4 of 4 from the line in the last 15 seconds.

The teams, who split four-point wins during the regular-season, played close for most of the first half. They were tied six times before UC Davis went on an 8-0 run in less than two minutes to take a 22-14 lead with 3:25 left in the half.

But UC Riverside answered with a 15-6 surge to close the first 20 minutes, keyed by two three-pointers from Cox and another from Morris to lead 29-28. Cox finished 5 for 5 from beyond the arc while Morris was 5 for 7. UC Riverside was 11 of 20 from three-point overall.

Cox and Rhaya Neabors sparked a 12-5 during the second half, putting the Highlanders in front 52-42 near the midway point. UC Davis couldn't get closer than six before going down 67-55 on a trey from Cox.

UC Davis, though, rallied behind good defense and by attacking the basket to get back into the game. The Aggies scored 11 straight points, including six by Heintz who capped the run with a three-point play to make it 67-66 with 1:38 left, setting up the exciting finish.

Heintz was 12 of 14 from the line for UC Davis while Haylee Donaghe added three steals.

Also making the all-tournament were Cox and Morris, along with Mekia Valentine (UCSB) and Mikah Maly-Karros (UC Irvine).

UC Riverside is making its third NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006.