GAME 25
Seattle (7-18) at No. 18 UC Davis (17-7)
7 p.m. • Feb. 18 • The Pavilion (7,100) • Davis, Calif. • KDVS (90.3 FM) • www.ucdavisaggies.com • Big West TV
* - CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25
OPENING TIPS: UC Davis plays its final nonconference game of the regular season on Friday when it faces Seattle University for the third consecutive year.. The Aggies, who have lost back-to-back games for the first time this year, are trying to avoid their first three-game losing streak since late 2009 when it dropped games to Yale, Seton Hall and Kansas State... UC Davis needs three victories to reach 20 wins for the second consecutive year and for the second time as an NCAA Division I program... UC Davis is in fourth place in the Big West Conference but just one game behind second-place UC Santa Barbara (which it has beaten twice)... The Aggies are two in front of fifth-place UC Irvine with a game against the Anteaters scheduled during a crucial two-game homestand next week... UC Davis, defending regular-season champion, is trying to secure a top-four finish and an accompanying home game on Mar. 8 in the first round of the Big West Tournament... The Aggies are 10-2 against nonconference teams this year... They're are ranked 20th nationally in steals (11.8 pg) but have only reached double-figures in the stat once in their past six games... They were held to a season-low three during last Saturday's loss at Long Beach State... P Paige Mintun has extended her career-long streak of double-digit scoring games to 16... Mintun, W Heidi Heintz, W Samantha Meggison and G Hana Asano have each started all 24 games this season.. W Vicky Deely has four starts, all for W Kasey Riecks who has started 20... Nine players are averaging at least 16 min. of court time per game... UC Davis needs just 22 three-pointers to break the school record of 206 set last year... Its 7.7 pg. average is ranked 11th in Div. I... Mintun, with 559 career rebounds, needs just 11 to become the first Aggie to move into the program's top-10 scoring and rebounding charts since W Jessica Campbell did during the 2007-08 season.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. SEATTLE: Friday's game is the third all-time between the Aggies and the Redhawks, all of them games coming over the last three seasons... The visiting team has won both previous matchups... Seattle scored a 65-59 win on Hamilton Court two years ago while W Kasey Riecks hit a career-high five three-pointers and scored 21 points in last year's season-opener... G Hana Asano dished a career-best nine assists (with no turnovers) in the game which UC Davis led 33-19 at halftime... F ASHLEY BROWN had 13 points for the Redhawks.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE REDHAWKS: Seattle, in the third year of a four-year reclassification to NCAA Division I status, had brief two-game winning streak snapped at home by Cal State Bakersfield (77-71) last Saturday... The Redhawks lost seven straight before posting their back-to-back wins... They've already played five Big West teams, notably downing host Long Beach State 73-54 on Feb. 4... UC Davis and Seattle share eight common opponents so far... The Redhawks have double-digit scorers in ELLE KERFOOT (12.7) and SALENA DICKERSON (11.2) with Dickerson (6.0) also tops in rebounds... Kerfott has been especially effective from three-point territory, making a team-high 53 so far.. She also leads the Redhawks with 95 assists and plays nearly 35 min./game... Seattle is scoring at a 61.6 ppg. clip, allowing an average of 67.2 ppg. and is averaging 12.0 steals per game.. The Redhawks shoot just 29 percent from three-point and 62.4 percent from the line... HEAD COACH JOAN BONVICINI is among the NCAA's all-time winningest coaches with 618 career wins, coming to Seattle after a successful career at Arizona where she led the Wildcats to seven NCAA Tournaments and the 1996 WNIT championship.
LAST GAME - UC DAVIS 74, UC SANTA BARBARA 70: Courtney Jacob made a free throw with 4.5 seconds to go and UC Davis was unable to convert on the other end as time expired as Long Beach State upset UC Davis 60-59 last Saturday afternoon in a Big West Conference women's basketball game at the Walter Pyramid... Long Beach State, which trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half, picked up 17 points from Jacob and 13 from G Brandi Henton... Like UC Davis, the 49ers struggled from the field, making just 32.8 percent but benefitted with six fewer turnovers after halftime... They outscored UC Davis 10-3 off turnovers over the final 20 minutes... Jacob drew a foul from W Vicky Deely in the key with 4.5 seconds on the clock.. She missed the first but made the second for a 60-59 advantage. UC Davis was able to push the ball into the frontcourt but W KASEY RIECKS' shot from the left side of the lane was contested and rolled off the rim as time expired... P Paige Mintun had 14 points for UC Davis.
TOP 100 NCAA RANKINGS: The Aggies are among the top 100 teams a dozen NCAA statistical areas including turnover margin (9th), three-pointers (11th), steals (20th), and assist/turnover ratio (49th)... Individually, W VICKY DEELEY, who was as high as No. 2 in three-point percentage, is currently No. 38 (.405) while P Paige Mintun, who tied a school record with seven blocks against Pacific, is 57th (1.8) nationally.
HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS: UC Davis is 9-2 at home this season and has won 17 of its past 19 on Hamilton Court and the numbers back up their success... This season, the Aggies are outscoring opponents by 12.8 ppg, have just over double the steals (143-71) and are allowing and average of just 58.6 ppg.
POSTSEASON SUCCESS: Despite being in just their fourth year as a Div. I program, the Aggies have already established themselves as a formidable program... In three previous seasons, they have captured the 2010 Big West regular-season championship, been to the conference tournament final twice, earned two bids to the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) and have a 38-22 (.633) league mark.
SUCCESS AGAINST TOUGH SCHEDULE: Another challenging slate of games has not deterred UC Davis this season which already owns wins against the Pac-10 (Washington State), SEC (South Carolina), Ivy League (Yale), Big Sky (Sacramento State), Missouri Valley (Wichita State) and WCC (San Francisco, Pepperdine, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara)... Additionally, the Aggies have face then-No. 15 UCLA of the Pac-10 and Kansas State from the Big 12.
RECORDS UPDATE: P Paige Mintun has 1,236 career points and is No. 6 all-time, and has a school-record 138 blocks... She went over 1,000 points on Dec. 1 and broke the blocks mark (120) at Pacific last month... She needs 11 rebounds to move into that top 10 list and with 149 steals is just one away from cracking that top 10 chart... W Heidi Heintz went over 1,000 career points (split between seasons at San Francisco and UC Davis) at UCSB in January... She and Mintun were honored for their scoring achievements during pregame ceremonies on Feb. 5.
NEW FORMAT FOR BIG WEST TOURNAMENT: The road to March Madness takes a different route this year with the Big West Tournament using a different format... Unlike previous years, no byes will be awarded and not all tournament games will be in Anaheim, although eight teams will still qualify for the postseason... Teams will be seeded 1-8 with the higher seed hosting first-round games on Mar. 8... The winners will advance to the conference semifinals at the Honda Center on Mar. 11 with the title game set for Mar. 12... The tournament moves to the Honda Center this year from its previous home at the Anaheim Convention Center... As a sidenote, the men's tournament will have the same format but all games will be in Anaheim beginning on Mar. 10.
THREE-POINTERS ON PACE AGAIN: The Aggies are averaging 7.7 treys per game - 11th-best nationally - and are on pace to break the school record of 206 they made last season... They need 22 more and have five regular-season games left plus the postseason to try and eclipse the mark... UC Davis has made at least 10 in six games, including three of its past five, and made a season-high 14 at San Jose State on Dec. 21.
MID-MAJOR POLL UPDATE: UC Davis dropped five positions to No. 13 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll this week following its two losses last week... The Aggies, who debuted in the poll after the season's opening weekend, rose to as high as No. 8 where they sat for three weeks before two Big West losses moved them down to No. 13... League-leader Cal Poly is ranked No. 24 while UC Santa Barbara (2 pts) is among others receiving votes.
UC DAVIS SIGNS OUTSTANDING PREP TRIO: The Aggies signed three standout players to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period: W LAUREN BEYER (Bradshaw Christian HS, Sacramento), W SYDNEE FIPPS (Yosemite HS, Oakhurst), P EMILY VANN (Saint Mary's College HS, Berkeley)... Beyer is a McDonald's High School All-America nominee, Fipps averaged 24.5 ppg and 10 rpg. last season, and Vann helped lead Saint Mary's to the CIF State Div. IV title game.
BIG WEST HONORS: UC Davis has captured a pair of Big West Player of the Week accolades this season, already matching the two it won last year... W VICKI DEELY was honored on Nov. 22 after canning a career-high five three-pointers and scoring 21 points at nationally ranked UCLA, while W Heidi Heintz - one of two Aggie winners last year along with P Paige Mintun - was honored on Dec. 23 after going 7-for-7 from the field and scoring 19 points at San Jose State.
SIMPSON ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: HEAD COACH Sandy Simpson announced in October that the upcoming 2010-11 season will be his last in order to spend more time with his family... Simpson, in his 14th season, has a 244-151 overall record and is the program's all-time leader for wins... He has been coaching for 33 seasons overall including a tenure as an assistant at UC Davis prior to becoming head coach... Simpson led the Aggies to a program-best 29-3 record as interim coach in 1997 as UC Davis finished third at the NCAA Division II Elite Eight Championships... Associate head coach Jennifer Gross, who played on the 1997 squad, has been named as Simpson's replacement on a permanent basis beginning next season.
ON THE AIR AND ON THE INTERNET: All UC Davis games are simulcast on www.ucdavisaggies.com and KDVS (90.3 FM)... Pregame shows begin 15 minutes prior to tipoff... Live stats for all home games, as well as most road matchups, are also available by visiting www.ucdavisaggies.com... Live video of all Big West games is available for a subscription fee at www.bigwest.org... In-game updates are provided via Twitter by following UCDavisAggies on the social networking site.
