Dec. 31, 2011

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - Hannah Stephens scored 15 points for the UC Davis women's basketball team, but Mya Olivier's double-double and 16 points from Megan Richardson helped Cal State Fullerton claim a 58-50 win in the Aggies' Big West Conference opener on Saturday at The Pavilion.

UC Davis drops to 8-5 overall and 0-1 in conference play while Cal State Fullerton, who opened league play on Thursday, moves to 7-6 overall and 1-1 in the Big West.

The Aggies drop their conference opener for the third straight year and all three of the losses have come at the hands of the Titans.

In addition to her team-leading 15 points, Stephens had a season-high five steals and shot 6-of-10 from the floor.

"Hannah's been so consistent for us," said head coach Jennifer Gross. "She may not always be our leading scorer, but if you look across her stat line, she's always doing a lot. She's shooting a good percentage from both two and three. She gets steals. She's one of our best rebounders both offensively and defensively. I think Hannah's playing some of her best basketball. She's a great energy player for us and I've been really pleased with her consistency."

Olivier scored 14 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for the Titans while Richardson dished out four assists and took six rebounds of her own.

UC Davis led throughout the opening minutes of the first half, building a 12-8 lead with 11:10 to play on a layup from Hana Asano. Cal State Fullerton answered and the offensive battle began. Both teams traded baskets over the next five minutes until Chante Miles hit a jumper in the paint for the Titans with 5:57 left in the half, then extended Cal State Fullerton's lead to five with a pair of free throws at the 4:06 mark.

Richardson's jumper with 1:23 to play was good for a six-point Titan lead and Lauren Chow followed with a trey, giving Cal State Fullerton a 26-17 lead. Stephens cut into the Titan advantage slightly with a layup with 25 seconds left in the first half, but Cal State Fullerton took a 26-19 lead into halftime.

"We did a nice job in the first half controlling the boards but in the second half, to their credit, they were really pursuing the ball well and utilizing a bit of a size advantage," said Gross. "We also just couldn't get the ball to drop tonight. We had a lot of open layups and open threes and it was contagious out there, unfortunately, for us."

The Aggies shot just 9-of-29 from the floor and were 0-for-11 from three-point range in the first half. UC Davis was also just 1-of-2 from the free throw line.

Stephens and the Aggies came out of the break re-energized as the junior scored on back-to-back possessions to get UC Davis to within four points. She turned a steal from Asano into a fast break layup, then knocked down a three to cut the score to just 28-24 in favor of Cal State Fullerton.

The Titans responded behind strong rebounding from Olivier who grabbed a defensive rebound for the Titans, then picked up two offensive boards before putting the ball in the basket and giving Cal State Fullerton a nine-point lead with 13:42 to play.

Blair Shinoda hit consecutive shots for the Aggies, then Stephens' second trey of the half was good to put UC Davis only five points back at 38-33 with 10:22 left in the game. Brianna Salvatore then knocked down a three-point shot of her own and UC Davis was within three points with only 8:27 to go.

UC Davis continued its rally as the shots kept falling for the Aggies. Samantha Meggison nailed a three of her own - her only basket of the game - and the Aggies were down just one point at 40-39 with 7:15 to play. The Titans took back a four-point lead but Sydnee Fipps cut that in half with a layup off a Meggison assist.

Cal State Fullerton scored eight unanswered points over the next two minutes, reclaiming a double-digit lead with 5:02 to go. The Aggies staged their own mini-run, scoring six straight to get to within five points at 53-48 with just 1:55 to go, but that would be as close as UC Davis would get. Down the stretch, the Titans outscored the Aggies 5-2 for the 58-50 win.

UC Davis returns to the road, taking on UC Riverside and UC Irvine on Jan. 5 and Jan. 7, respectively, in Southern Calif.