Nov. 20, 2011

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - Samantha Meggison finished with 16 points and five steals and Kasey Riecks added 12 points to lead the UC Davis women's basketball team to its fourth-straight victory as the Aggies topped Wichita State 62-47 on Sunday at The Pavilion in Davis.

Under the direction of first-year head coach Jennifer Gross, UC Davis remains unbeaten and is 4-0 to start the season for the second straight year.

Wichita State drops to 1-3.

"I thought we jumped out to a nice lead, but when we had that lead in hand we missed a couple of shots and our energy started to deflate a little bit," said Gross. "They capitalized on that and got some easy buckets in transition. What we really harped on in the second half is that we have to play consistently for 20 minutes a half. If we miss a shot, we can create something for ourselves on the other side."

The Shockers would score the opening basket of the game at the 18:36 mark, but that would be their only basket for the next eight minutes of the first half.

UC Davis built an 18-2 lead during that span, forcing 10 turnovers and recording five steals before Wichita State would finally score again at the 10:59 mark.

UC Davis continued to excel on the defensive end, adding another three steals as the first half began to wind down, but Wichita State slowly began cutting into the Aggie lead. Haleigh Lankster's three brought the Shockers to within seven points with 5:50 to go and a fastbreak layup from Jessica Diamond cut the Aggie lead to 23-19 with under three minutes to play.

The Aggies took a 25-22 lead into halftime behind eight points from Riecks and six from Meggison.

"We're really focusing this year on letting our defense create our offense, rather than getting our energy from the offensive side of things," said Gross. "A really good defensive team brings the same energy every single possession, and that can fuel things on the other side of the ball."

Out of the break, Wichita State stayed close as Chynna Turner hit a layup and Haleigh Lankster knocked down a jumper to go down by only a basket in the opening minutes of the half. Hana Asano pulled the Aggies ahead with a three-pointer, but Kelsey Jacobs responded with a jumper in the paint to bring the score to 32-29 with 16:57 to go.

A layup from Riecks from one of Meggison's five steals started an 11-0 second-half run for the Aggies over the next three minutes. Behind shots from Blair Shinoda, Meggison and Hannah Stephens and a Cortney French three pointer, UC Davis would go up 45-29 on Wichita State before Lankster took a steal coast-to-coast to stop the Aggie run.

The Shockers rallied again, creating an 11-3 run of their own and cutting the score to 47-40 with 9:40 to play.

UC Davis returned to a double-digit lead however after Meggison hit a trey, then put in a layup with 5:42 to go, giving the Aggies a 55-42 advantage.

A free throw from Stephens at the 4:52 mark would put UC Davis up by 17, the Aggies' largest lead of the game. Lankster and Molly O'Brien hit shots, but with less than three minutes to play, the Shockers would come no closer and UC Davis rolled to its fourth straight win.

UC Davis shot 41 percent from the floor, knocking down 13-of-24 shots in the second half and held Wichita State to just one successful three-point shot for the entire game.

The Shockers were paced by Lankster's 14 points and seven rebounds while Jessica Diamond shot 5-of-9 to finish with 10 points.

The Aggies return to action on Tuesday at 4:45 p.m., closing out a three-game homestand against the University of San Francisco.