Jan. 12, 2012

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - Cal State Northridge used a 14-0 run with 10 minutes left in the game to cut into a 16-point UC Davis lead, but the Aggie women's basketball team held off the Matadors to take a 55-53 win on Thursday in Big West Conference action at The Pavilion.

UC Davis improves to 10-6 overall and 2-2 in conference play and handed Cal State Northridge its first Big West loss of the year. The Matadors now stand at 8-8 and are 3-1 in league action.

Blair Shinoda finished with 10 points to lead UC Davis while Hannah Stephens added in a career-high 10 rebounds, eight of which came in the first half. Violet Alama had 19 points and 10 rebounds for Cal State Northridge while Jasmine Erving finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

"There are three areas that we've really been focusing on and that's improving defensively at a rapid pace, our rebounding efforts and running our offense with great discipline and knocking shots down," said head coach Jennifer Gross. "We are taking huge steps in all of those areas. We are keeping teams under their average, we are battling on the boards and tonight we scored in a variety of ways so that was a nice big step forward offensively for us too. Whether we won or lost this game, I feel like we're getting better and our best basketball is ahead of us."

The first half was a back-and-forth affair as both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm. UC Davis shot just 8-of-32 while Cal State Northridge was nearly identical from the floor at 8-of-31.

UC Davis' defense, however, broke through to hold Cal State Northridge to just 19 points in the first half. The Aggies outrebounded the Matadors by a 29-19 margin and held their opponent scoreless from three-point range, taking a slim 21-19 lead into the locker room at halftime.

"Our defense was playing really well in the first half so we really focused on the offensive side of the ball," said Gross of her halftime adjustments. "Cal State Northridge came out really aggressively with that zone press, and we stood up to it really well in the first half ,but we just weren't seeing all the openings. We talked about really utilizing our high post and our baseline runner and the team really stepped up and made the adjustments that we talked about and made plays. Because of that we executed really well and started to build that nice cushion."

UC Davis opened the second half on an 8-2 run, taking an eight-point lead on a Kasey Riecks layup with 17:29 to go. Cal State Northridge stayed close behind free throws and a jumper from Alama, but Brianna Salvatore entered the game for UC Davis and provided an offensive spark.

Salvatore nailed a three to put the Aggies up 34-26 with 14:58 to play, then added a second one just one minute later, extending the UC Davis lead to 13. She was fouled at the 12:38 mark and sank both free throws and the Aggies were up 41-26 with 12:38 left in the game.

The rhythm spread throughout the UC Davis bench as Idit Oryon hit a trey of her own at the 12:03 mark, giving the Aggies their biggest lead of the game at 16 points. Sydnee Fipps kept UC Davis in front after Lauren Juric found her cutting under the basket for the layup.

Erving's offensive rebound and ensuing putback started the Cal State Northridge rally with 8:18 left in the game. The Matadors scored 13 unanswered points over the next four minutes until Samantha Meggison stopped the run with a pair of free throws. With just 3:49 to play, Cal State Northridge was down just five points at 50-45.

Erving hit two more free throws with 2:32 to go and the Matadors were just one possession back of the Aggies. Shinoda responded with a jumper in the paint, but Janae Sharpe answered that score with one of her own to keep the score at 52-50. With under two minutes to play, Hana Asano nailed a jump shot, but Ashlee Guay's three-point shot cut the Aggie lead to just one.

On top by a score of 54-53 with 1:28 to play, the UC Davis defense went back to work. Meggison collected a steal, then grabbed a defensive rebound as the Aggies held the Matadors scoreless for the remainder of the game. Meggison was awarded a pair of free throws with 26 seconds left and hit 1-of-2 for the 55-53 final score.

Riecks finished with nine points and now sits just nine away from reaching 1,000 for her career.

Juric added eight points and nine rebounds and made her first start of the season after sitting out the first half of the year due to injury.

UC Davis returns to action on Saturday as the Aggies host Long Beach State at 2 p.m. at The Pavilion.