Jan. 27, 2011

Final Stats

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - UC Davis went without a field goal for the final 10 minutes of the first half, UC Riverside shot 61.5 percent from the field in the second, and the host Highlanders broke a halftime tie with a strong second half as they downed the Aggies 72-50 in a Big West Conference women's basketball game on Thursday night at the Student Recreation Center.

The loss snapped a modest two-game winning streak for the Aggies, dropping them to 14-5 overall and 4-3 in the Big West. UC Riverside, which downed UC Davis in last year's Big West Tournament final, improved to 11-8 overall and 4-2 in the league.

Guard Tre'Shonti Nottingham scored a game-high 22 points to lead UC Riverside while Brittany Waddell had 14 and Rhaya Neabors added 13. Paige Mintun scored 12 points and Kasey Riecks had 10 for UC Davis which had an early double-digit lead.

The Aggies hit just 36.4 percent of their shots during the game, including making only 2 of 13 (15.4 percent) from three-point. They also had 23 turnovers, 15 in the second half, and finished with only nine steals, four below their average.

"I was actually really, really pleased with our defensive effort in the first half and even offensively we got good shots," said Aggie coach Sandy Simpson. "We got stuck on the number 18 for a while and we missed some layups that maybe we could've extended (the lead) and kind of allowed Riverside to get back in it.

"The second half it was all Riverside's defensive pressure," he added. "They dialed it up, they picked off some of our passes and got breakaways. They scored 32 points off our turnovers and that was really the story of the game."

UC Davis came out strong in the game, opened a pair of 10-point leads but went cold over the final 10 minutes of the half before battling back to forge a 23-all tie at the break. But the second half belonged to the Highlanders who made 16 of 26 shots from the floor, six of them from beyond the arc. Nottingham and Waddell were the catalysts in the effort, scoring 16 and 14 points, respectively.

The teams traded baskets early in the second half, but behind five points from Waddell, including a three-pointer with 17 minutes to go, the Highlanders scored 11 straight points for a 36-25 lead five minutes in. Samantha Meggison made a pair of free throws with 11 minutes to go, bringing UC Davis to within 42-36, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the way.

Waddell scored five points later while Nottingham added four as UC Riverside put together another 11-0 run and the Highlanders went up 67-48 with 2:30 remaining.

The second half was in contrast to the first part of the game when UC Davis came out efficiently. The Aggies made three straight shots - two each from Mintun and Kasey Riecks - to help them take a quick 9-2 lead. Up 9-7, the Aggies went on an 8-0 run, getting points from four different players to open their biggest lead at 17-7 midway through the half.

UC Riverside, however, put together a surge of its own, holding the Aggie without a field goal for the final 10 minutes of the half and without a point for more than seven. The Highlanders scored 13 straight for a 21-18 advantage with just under two minutes to go, getting a pair of three-pointers and eight points from Rhaya Neabors to help key it.

Hana Asano had three free throws and Meggison had two as UC Davis managed to tie the game 23-23 at halftime. The Aggies missed all nine of their shots over the final 10 minutes of the first half while committing three turnovers.

Riecks and Lauren Juric had six rebounds each for the Aggies who held a 29-28 advantage overall. Vicky Deely had seven points and Meggison picked up four steals.

The Aggies will conclude the first half of Big West play on Saturday when they visit UC Irvine for a 4 p.m. matchup. The Anteaters beat Cal State Northridge 59-53 on Thursday.