Jan. 5, 2012

Final Stats

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Samantha Meggison scored 11 points while Kasey Riecks added 10 and the UC Davis women's basketball team picked up its first Big West Conference win in dominating fashion, defeating UC Riverside 70-53 at the Student Recreation Center in Riverside on Thursday.

UC Davis improves to 9-5 overall and 1-1 in the Big West while UC Riverside drops to 2-12 and 0-3 in league play.

"I was really proud of our consistency tonight," said head coach Jennifer Gross. "Whenever we play UC Riverside it's just a battle between two very high-quality teams. Tonight we really buckled down and we got some key stops and transitioned on the other side and knocked some shots down. I was very pleased with our effort from start to finish."

Cortney French added nine points of her own, hitting 3-of-3 from three-point range.

UC Davis also saw the season debut of senior Lauren Juric, who sat out the first half of the season due to injury. In her first game back in an Aggie uniform, Juric scored seven points, grabbed two rebounds and had a blocked shot.

"Lauren is our rock," said Gross. "Up to this point, she's been a great leader for us off the court, but she is so important for us to have on the floor. She's really long, she locks up the middle of our zone and finishes off plays defensively. It's not just her play on the court but her leadership that we're really excited about having back."

Additionally, Hana Asano finished with eight points, six of which came in the final three minutes of the game. The senior point guard also dished out two assists, officially moving her into tenth place on UC Davis' all-time career assist list. With 253 career assists, Asano takes over tenth place from 1993 alum Suzy Charles.

"Hana is someone who has gotten better and better with every game she plays," said Gross. "She is our floor leader and our comfort factor out there. Everyone looks to her and she creates an ease when she has the ball in her hands. She's played a lot of different roles for us throughout her career, but first and foremost she is just a tremendous passer and point guard."

Blair Shinoda gave UC Davis a 9-7 lead with a drive to the basket, then Sydnee Fipps and Riecks connected on back-to-back treys to open up a seven-point lead for the Aggies with 9:16 left in the first half. French sank a trey of her own just two minutes later, but Tre'Shonti Nottingham answered with a long three-point shot to keep UC Riverside within five at 18-13 with just over six minutes to play in the first half.

Down the stretch, Shinoda scored, then hit a free throw with 2:15 to play in the half and UC Davis went up 24-16. The Aggies held UC Riverside scoreless until Nottingham converted two free throws with just 20 seconds left in the half. French, however, closed out the half for UC Davis by sinking a shot from three-point range with just seven seconds remaining and the Aggies took a 29-18 lead into halftime.

The Highlanders opened the second half on a 15-2 run, taking a 33-31 lead with 15:24 to play after Nottingham sank a trey, then converted a layup while being fouled. She hit the ensuing free throw.

French answered in a big way for UC Davis, though, sinking a long three on the other end to put the Aggies back up by one. Lauren Juric, making her season debut, added a pair of free throws, then hit a hook shot to extend UC Davis' lead to 38-33 with 13:02 to play.

UC Davis would never relinquish the lead as Fipps and Meggison each scored layups, then Asano put away a reverse layup on a dish from Juric and the Aggies went up 42-33 with 11 minutes to play.

Riecks' trey with 8:12 left put UC Davis up 50-38. UC Riverside continued to chip away at the Aggie lead as Brittany Palmer hit a jumper, then Nottingham sank a shot of her own with 6:21 to play.

The teams then hit a stretch of nearly two minutes without a field goal, as ten straight points were scored off of free throws. Natasha Hadley broke the streak with a jumper at the 4:12 mark, but Meggison answered with a drive down the lane and the Aggies were back up 60-48 with 3:42 to go.

Asano closed out the game for UC Davis with six straight points and the Aggies claimed the 70-53 victory.

Nottingham led all scorers with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Jessica Ogunnorin finished with 10 points.

UC Davis continues Big West play on Saturday as the Aggies face UC Irvine at 2 p.m. at the Bren Events Center in Irvine.