March 5, 2011

Final Stats

FULLERTON, Calif. - Paige Mintun and Kasey Riecks each scored a game-high 18 points, and UC Davis outscored host Cal State Fullerton 22-0 over the last nearly 10 minutes of the first half on Saturday afternoon, as the Aggies downed the Titans 73-58 in a Big West Conference women's basketball game.

UC Davis ended the regular season with its third straight win, improving to 21-8 overall with a fourth-place mark of 10-6 in the league. The Titans dropped to 9-20 overall and 5-11 in the Big West.

Heidi Heintz added 14 points for UC Davis which shot 51.8 percent from the field, including 57.1 percent (12 of 21) in the second half. Riecks had four of the Aggies' six three-pointers.

Lyndsey Grove scored 14 points for Cal State Fullerton while Ashley Richie added 13.

UC Davis avenged a conference-opening loss to the Titans last Dec. 31 but didn't gain any separation in this matchup until midway through the first half. The surge, which turned a four-point deficit into an 18-point halftime lead, allowed the Aggies to withstand a second-half rally by Cal State Fullerton which brought it within seven with still plenty of time on the clock.

"We got out of the blocks a little bit slow tonight but I think you can credit Fullerton for that," said UC Davis head coach Sandy Simpson. "On Senior Night they had a lot of emotion going early, they were playing with great intensity and verve and they just took it to us at the start and we struggled to stop them."

UC Davis, though, was able to shake five lead changes and two ties by stringing together a dominating final 10 minutes of the half. Grove hit a three-pointer for a 21-17 lead with 10:14 to go but that would be the Titan' final score until early after halftime.

Mintun and Heintz each had three-point plays, Kasey Riecks had a pair of three-pointers and five Aggies scored overall as UC Davis scored 22 unanswered points to lead 39-21 at halftime.

Cal State Fullerton missed all nine of its shots during the run while the Aggies went 9 for 16.

"They weren't shooting as well as they normally do, That obviously helped a little bit," said Simpson. "But I thought we were contesting most shots and playing pretty hard. And. really, the last 10 minutes the difference was we didn't give them many second chances off the boards."

Richie helped key a second-half comeback by Cal State Fullerton which got to within 11 on her layup with 15:19 to go, and then into single digits at 60-51 three minutes later.

The Titans cut the deficit to just 55-48 with 8:25 remaining but Brianna Salvatorre scored inside, Mintun later hit a trey and UC Davis scored 10 of the next 12 points to make it 65-50 with less than four minutes to go.

"What I liked was when they cut it to seven we responded with a 10-2 run to bump it back up and we made shots and plays when we had to," said Simpson, who also noted the play of Salvatorre and Blair Shinoda in the win.

UC Davis outrebounded the Titans 38-33, led by Lauren Juric who followed her nine rebounds at Cal State Northridge on Thursday with six more on Saturday.

Mintun added three assists, three steals and two blocks while Riecks hit 7 of 9 from the field overall. Heintz was 6 of 8 from the field, also contributing five rebounds.

Both teams will head to the postseason with fourth-seeded UC Davis hosting fifth-seeded UC Irvine on