Feb. 23, 2011

Game Notes | | | Live Audio | Live Video

GAME 26

UC Riverside (14-11, 7-5) at No. 16 UC Davis (18-7, 7-5)
7 p.m. • Feb. 24 • The Pavilion (7,100) • Davis, Calif. • KDVS (90.3 FM)

www.ucdavisaggies.com • Big West TV

GAME 27

UC Irvine (14-11, 6-7) at No. 16 UC Davis
2 p.m. • Feb. 26 • 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 looks to take a step toward clinching a first-round home game in the upcoming Big West Tournament when it hosts a crucial weekend series with UC Riverside on Thursday and UC Irvine on Saturday... The Aggies and Highlanders are tied for third in the league standings with four games remaining, 1.5 games behind UC Santa Barbara (9-4) and 2.5 back of front-runner Cal Poly (10-3)... The Anteaters are 1.5 games back of UC Davis but a win by the Aggies on Saturday would give them a sweep of their two games this season and the tiebreaker in any knot in the standings... The top four teams will secure a home game on Mar. 8 during the first round of the conference tournament... Cal Poly is the only team that has clinched such a matchup so far... UC Davis is trying to snap a two-game Big West losing streak, its first since 2009... The weekend's game also marks the final regular-season home games for HEAD COACH Sandy Simpson who announced his retirement prior to the start of the season... With 245 win in his 14 seasons, Simpson is the program's all-time winningest coach... Seniors P Paige Mintun, W Heidi Heintz and G Anna Harp will also bid adieu to the home crowd on Saturday... Mintun and Heintz are 1,000-point scorers in their collegiate careers while Harp enjoyed a great start to her Aggie career before being sidelined with injuries... With 194 three-pointers, UC Davis continues to close in the school record of 206 set last year... W Vicky Deely has a career-best 53, leading seven Aggies with at least a dozen... W Kasey Riecks has 36 while W Samantha Meggison has 20... UC Davis continues to rank among the NCAA Division I leaders in turnover margin (10th, 6.12), three-pointers (12th, 7.8 pg) and steals (21st, 11.7 pg)... Deely is 37th nationally, shooting 40.5 percent from beyond the arc... Three Aggies are among the Big West's top 10 in steals, led by Meggison who is second at 1.92 pg.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. UC RIVERSIDE AND UC IRVINE: UC Riverside picked up 22 points from G TRE'SHONTI NOTTINGHAM and double-digit scoring from two others while holding the Aggies without a field goal for the final 10 minutes of the first half during a 72-50 win on Jan. 27... That narrowed UC Davis' series lead to 23-18... P Paige Mintun had 12 points for the Aggies... Two days later, W Vicky Deely canned a career-high tying five three-pointers and had 23 points in the second half - 25 overall - as UC Davis downed UC Irvine 91-72... A late 12-2 run broke open a close game, helping the Aggies extend their series lead to 15-1... UC Davis has won four straight at home against the Anteaters.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE HIGHLANDERS: UC Riverside snapped a two-game losing streak with a 78-70 win over league-leader Cal Poly last weekend... F RHAYA NEABORS scored 23 points to lead the team which shot 52.6 percent from the floor and blocked 10 shots, three of them by Neabors... The Highlanders are second in the Big West in scoring defense (61.0 ppg)... They feature four players in double-figure scoring: G TRE'SHONTI NOTTINGHAM (12.3), ALYSSA MORRIS (12.2), BRITTANY WADDELL (11.2) and Neabors (10.5)... Waddell (37), Morris (35), Nottingham (24) and Neabors (23) have combined for 119 of UC Riverside's 141 three-pointers... The Highlanders are averaging 62.9 ppg and are second in the league in blocked shots (4.64)... They are also fourth in the Big West in free throws (.726).

A QUICK LOOK AT THE ANTEATERS: The Anteaters jumped to an 11-4 record this season but have been struggling as of late, dropping seven of their past 10... They are, however, coming off a 74-66 win against visiting Pacific last Saturday, picking up a career-high 25 points from TAYLER CHAMPION who made five three-pointers... UC Irvine is third in the Big West in scoring (67.8) and free throws (.735) and has two players - JACQUELYN MARSHALL (34) and G JADE SMITH-WILLIAMS (33) - who have eclipsed 30 treys so far... F MIKAH MALY-KARROS is averaging a league-best 19.5 ppg and 9.7 rpg but has not played in the last three games...Smith-Williams is tops in the Big West in assists (4.7) and third from the charity stripe (.841)... Maly-Karros has picked up 28 blocks while Marshall has 22... The Anteaters have dropped their last two Big West games on the road.

LAST GAME - UC DAVIS 80, SEATTLE 70: P Paige Mintun scored a game-high 18 points while W Vicky Deely canned four three-pointers and scored 16 points last Friday as UC Davis snapped a two-game losing streak with an nonconference win over Seattle University at The Pavilion... G Hannah Stephens had a trio of three-pointers and scored 12 points while W Kasey Riecks had 11... The Aggies led just 42-41 with 15 minutes, 54 seconds left in the second half, but used a 13-4 run - capped by a three-pointer from W Blair Shinoda - to take a 55-45 lead near the midway point of the half... The lead grew to 12, shrunk to just 57-53 with 8:18 remaining but then swelled to double-digits again... Seattle didn't get closer than eight points until the final minute while UC Davis enjoyed twice enjoyed 15-point advantages down the stretch.

DEPTH PERCEPTION: To say that HEAD COACH Sandy Simpson likes to use his bench might be an understatement... Nine players are averaging at least 16.0 min/game, four are those are over 20 min/game but none are higher than 26.9 ppg... Four players - P Paige Mintun, W Heidi Heintz, W Samantha Meggison and G Hana Asano - have each started every game... Eleven of the 12 active players have seen action in at least 21 games each.

DEELY ON A THREE-POINT BRIGADE: W Vicky Deely entered the season with just 16 three-pointers but has exploded with a team-high 53 so far this season, becoming the team's top long-range threat... She's made a career-high five treys three times this season - including five at then No. 15 UCLA - and has had 10 games where she's made at least three... Deely has only been shut out beyond the arc five times in 25 games.

NEW BIG WEST FORMAT: The women's Big West Tournament takes new shape this year with all first-round games being played on home sites on Mar. 8... The higher-seeded team will host... The four winners will advance to the Big West semifinals at The Honda Center in Anaheim on Mar. 11 with the championship scheduled for Mar. 12 at 1 p.m.

TOP 100 NCAA RANKINGS: The Aggies are among the top 100 teams in a dozen NCAA statistical areas including turnover margin (10th), three-pointers (12th), steals (21st), and assist/turnover ratio (31st)... Individually, W VICKY DEELEY, who was as high as No. 2 in three-point percentage, is currently No. 37 (.405) while P Paige Mintun, who tied a school record with seven blocks against Pacific, is 50th (1.9) in that department.

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS: UC Davis is 10-2 at home this season and has won 18 of its past 20 on Hamilton Court... The Aggies enjoyed a 13-game winning streak at home which snapped by Cal State Fullerton in the Big West opener on Dec. 31.

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 1,254 career points and is No. 5 all-time, passing former teammate P Ellen Porshneva (1,251) during last week's win over Seattle... She also has a school-record 141 blocks... She went over 1,000 points on Dec. 1 and broke the blocks mark (120) at Pacific last month... She needs just two 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.

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.

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 245-151 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.