UP NEXT...
San Francisco (5-1) at UC Davis (3-2)
Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014
7 p.m.
The Pavilion (5,670)
Davis, Calif.
RADIO: KDVS 90.3 FM
Game Coverage: Live Stats | Audio | Video | UC Davis Notes | USF Notes

TIP-OFF: A season-long four-game home stand comes to an end this week, as the UC Davis women's basketball team (3-2 overall) welcomes its second straight West Coast Conference foe to The Pavilion, with San Francisco coming to town on Tuesday (Dec. 2) at 7 p.m. It's the start of a week that will see the Aggies play three games over five days as they head to Colorado Springs to take part in the Air Force Classic this weekend.

IN THE POLLS: Entering this week's contests, both UC Davis and San Francisco, are unranked in both the Associated Press and USA Today national polls.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: A small change to the UC Davis schedule, as the Aggies will now ring in the New Year against Menlo College at 4:30 p.m., instead of the originally scheduled 2 p.m. tip, making it a true doubleheader with the men's team, which faces Cal Maritime at 7 p.m. that night.

BE A FOLLOWER: Fans can keep up with the latest in UC Davis Athletics by "liking" us on Facebook (facebook.com/UCDavisAggies) and following us on Twitter (@UCDavisAggies). You can also "like" the women's basketball program on Facebook by visiting facebook.com/UCDavisWomensBasketball as well as follow them on Twitter (@UCDavisWBB) and Instagram (instagram.com/ucdaviswomensbasketball). Game Day in-game updates are also available on Twitter by following us @UCDavisInGame.

"CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?": Thanks to a partnership with Arizona-based Stretch Internet, live Internet audio will be available for all of the Aggies' contests this season, as well as broadcast locally on KDVS 90.3 FM with Greg Wong and Brian Fuller on the call. Visit the women's basketball schedule page at UCDavisAggies.com to access the links.

"YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE...": Bringing together live and on-demand video from each of the Big West Conference's nine member institutions, BigWest.TV covers Big West sports, press conferences, interviews, and features, including every home and conference contest. Now in its 11th year, BigWest.TV will again air all of the Aggies home and conference clashes FOR FREE during the 2014-15 campaign. Log on to www.bigwest.org/thisweek for weekly schedules or visit the women's basketball schedule page at UCDavisAggies.com.

I NEED STATS, STAT!: Barring technical difficulties, new-look live stats for all UC Davis home games, as well as selected road contests, are available on your computer and mobile device courtesy the StatBroadcast platform. Visit the men's soccer schedule page at UCDavisAggies.com or the StatBroadcast landing page at UCDavisLiveStats.com to access the links when the games begin.

ABOUT THE DONS: San Francisco enters the week on a roll, winning five of its first six games, including victories over Nevada (63-48) and Utah Valley (69-50) around the Thanksgiving hoilday... The Dons' only loss this season has come against Big West rival UC Riverside (66-53) back on Nov. 22 in their only road contest thus far... Junior forward Taylor Proctor (13.0 ppg) leads a trio of USF players in double figures, joined by junior guard Zhane Dikes (10.7 ppg) and senior guard Taj Winston (10.3 ppg)... Proctor is also averaging a robust 9.8 rebounds per game while shooting .433 from the floor... Head Coach Jennifer Azzi is in her fifth season at the helm of the Dons' program, posting a 33-88 record in her first four years... San Francisco returns 11 letter winners and all five starters off last season's squad that finished 12-19 overall and 6-12 in the WCC.

SERIES NOTES: San Francisco leads the all-time series with UC Davis by a 6-5 count, having won the last two meetings -- including a 69-67 decision last season at the Holiday Beach Classic hosted by Cal Poly -- following a four-game winning streak by the Aggies from 2008-12... UC Davis is 4-1 all time against the Dons at home, 1-4 at War Memorial Gym, and 0-1 on a neutral court... The Aggies' last home win in the series came back in 2011-12, with a 64-50 triumph, as they have won four straight at The Pavilion dating back to an 89-62 loss during the 1978-79 campaign... Tuesday marks the eighth consecutive year that UC Davis and San Francisco will meet in women's basketball.

CONFERENCE CALL: The Aggies are a combined 37-47 against the current West Coast Conference alignment following Saturday's win over Pacific, and are 1-1 against the league this season... UC Davis has faced seven of the 10 WCC members, having played everyone except for BYU, Loyola Marymount, and San Diego... The Aggies are 0-2 against Portland, 0-3 against Gonzaga, 8-9 against Santa Clara, 10-12 vs. Saint Mary's, 5-6 against San Francisco, 13-12 vs. Pacific, and 1-3 when facing Pepperdine.

SO, WE MEET AGAIN: After spending three seasons as the Director of Basketball Operations at UC Davis, Britinee Yasukochi returns to The Pavilion on Tuesday night but, this time, sitting on the opposite bench and sporting the green and gold of San Francisco in her first season as an assistant coach with the Dons. Staring her down at the other end of the court? Britinee's younger sister, Brianne, who is in her second season as a point guard on the Aggies' roster.

THE PASSING POSTS: Inside out. Not good if you're a shirt, really good if you're a basketball team. Three of the Aggies' top four in assists thus far this season play in the front court as junior forward Celia Marfone (15) and junior center Alyson Doherty (12) -- who set a career high with five assists in a win over Pacific on Nov. 29 -- rank 1-2 on the team in assists, while junior forward Lauren Beyer is tied with Molly Greubel for third with eight helpers through five games. Individually, Marfone and Doherty rank in a tie for 10th in the Big West entering the week with 3.00 assists per game.

DANI ON POINT: Freshman Dani Nafekh made her Division I debut in the scoring column in the Aggies' last contest against Pacific, nailing a three-pointer in the first half against the Tigers and adding a pair of clutch free throws late in the game to finish with a career-high five points off the bench.

I'LL TAKE SCORING FOR 20, ALEX: Fipps' 21-point performance against the Tigers was good enough for her to collect the 25th career 20-point game. Already the highest-scoring sophomore (512) and junior (548) in the history of the program, Fipps needs just six more 20-point games this season to catch Staci Stevens (31 from 1984-88) for the most career 20-point games in UC Davis history.

THREE-CO-LA!: Hitting on an efficient 9-of-16 from beyond the arc against Pacific on Nov. 29, the Aggies set a season high with their 56 percent shooting from three-point range, marking the first time this year that they have shot better than 40 percent from long distance and posting their best performance from three-point land since shooting 59 percent (13-of-22) at Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 24, 2013.

GIMME FIVE!: A pair of big scoring nights for senior Sydnee Fipps has the Mariposa, California, native rocketing up the all-time scoring list, jumping past former Aggie great Aimee Conner (1989-93) and into fifth place with 1,299 career points -- just 412 points back of record holder Carol Rische (1979-83), who had 1,711 points during her illustrious career. With 23 regular season games remaining, Fipps needs to average just under 18 points per game to reach that mark and supplant Rische atop the UC Davis scoring chart.

SHOOTER!: One of the top shooting teams in the Big West Conference entering the week, UC Davis has been white-hot from the floor in its last four contests, hitting on better than 41 percent in each of those games, including a season-best 54 percent at Sacramento State on Nov. 18 in an eight-point win. On the flip side, as hot as the Aggies' offense has been, the defense has been just as good, holding the last four opponents to under 40 percent from the field en route to a 3-1 mark in those games.

HELP ME, HELP YOU: Creating opportunities for teammates has been a hallmark of the Aggies thus far this season, assisting on 73 of the team's 109 makes (67 percent) -- including a season-best 22 helpers on 34 makes against Sacramento State on Nov. 18.

SHE'S JUST ALY FROM THE BLOCK: With nine blocks in four games back from injury, junior Alyson Doherty is already asserting herself in the post, blocking three shots in three straight games against Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, and Utah Valley. Thanks to her performance against the Gaels, Doherty registered her 11th career game with three-or-more swats, falling one shy of her single-game career high set against Long Beach State on Jan. 11, 2014, and matched against UC Irvine on March 8, 2014. The three blocked shots against the Wolverines gave her 71 for her career, solidifying her hold on seventh on the UC Davis career list, just nine back of Ellen Porshneva (2003-06, 2007-08) for sixth place.

ROOM TO BOARD: The Aggies' 56 rebounds at Sacramento State marked the fourth time in the last three seasons that they have topped the 50-rebound plateau, but the performance was something special as UC Davis posted its highest single-game rebounding total in its Division I history and the most boards since grabbing 56 against Western Baptist on Dec. 28, 2001. Of the last five, 50-rebound performances, three of those have come against the Hornets dating back to the 2010-11 campaign.

SOMEBODY GET A HAND IN HER FACE: Senior Kelsey Harris has been white-hot from beyond the arc through the first five games this season, hitting 15-of-29 from three-point range (.517) and ranking third on the team in scoring at 10.2 ppg. The Brea, California, native enters the week ranked third in the Big West in three-point percentage and stands second among the league's sharpshooters in three-pointers made per game (3.00). In fact, all but two of her field goals (93 percent) have come from long distance this season, continuing a trend that saw her take 82 percent (217 of 264) of her field goal attempts from beyond the arc as a junior.

"BENCH"-MARK FOR SUCCESS: Once the starters come out, the Aggies' bench has done well to keep UC Davis running like a well-oiled machine, especially on the offensive end where the reserves have out-scored their counterparts by a combined 31 points in five games this year -- including a run of four straight games with the advantage in bench scoring. Leading the way for that group has been play of freshmen Rachel Nagel and Pele Gianotti, who are averaging 5.4 and 5.2 points per game respectively, thus far, with the latter shooting at at 55 percent clip (11-for-20) from the field to start the season.

GOING DEEP: Speaking of the Aggies' new-found depth, 10 of 13 players who have seen time on the floor this season are averaging better than 10 minutes per game, led by senior Kelsey Harris' 31 minutes per contest -- an average that ranks 10th in the league entering the week. She is the only UC Davis player averaging more than 30 minutes per game with teammate Sydnee Fipps behind her at 28.4 mpg.

RECYCLED NOTES
THEY CAME IN DROVES: With the top-ranked team in the nation visiting Davis for the first time, the fans came out in record numbers to see the Aggies battle UConn. The announced attendance of 4,712 at The Pavilion on Nov. 14 was the largest crowd to see a women's basketball game in UC Davis history, topping the previous mark of 4,675 against Chico State back on Jan. 23, 1999, and only the fourth to break the 4,000 mark, joining two other games vs. the Wildcats in 1998 (4,615) and 1996 (4,549).

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ADDS TWO IN EARLY PERIOD: UC Davis women's basketball head coach Jennifer Gross announced, on Nov. 13, that Washington natives Karley and Kourtney Eaton have signed National Letters of Intent to continue their academic and athletic careers with the Aggies beginning with the 2015-16 season. Originally from Longview, Washington, the twin sisters helped lead the Mark Morris HS girl's basketball team to the school's first-ever Washington State championship as sophomores and a runner-up state finish as juniors in 2014. Over the last two seasons, the Monarchs have compiled a 49-5 overall record with the help of the Eaton's, who will enter UC Davis as freshmen with four years of eligibility remaining. For more information on both Karley and Kourtney, read the full release online at http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/111314aah.html.

AGGIES PICKED FOURTH IN COMPETITIVE BIG WEST RACE: UC Davis was picked to finish fourth in the race for the Big West Conference crown this season -- one spot higher than where the Aggies finished a season ago, and two spots better than where they were picked at the start of the 2013-14 season. UC Davis received 83 points to place behind defending regular season and tournament champion CSUN (13 first-place votes, 125 points), Hawai'i (1 first-place vote, 101 points), and Cal Poly (99 points), while finishing 10 points ahead of fifth-place Long Beach State. Cal State Fullerton (53), UC Irvine (41), UC Riverside (29), and UC Santa Barbara (26), round out the preseason prognostications.

SO... HOW `BOUT THOSE AGGIES?: Losing only one player off of last season's "efficient" roster, UC Davis features an experienced lineup that lists five returning starters, 10 returning letter winners, and five newcomers, with a nice balance of upperclassmen (3 seniors, 5 juniors) and underclassmen (2 sophomores, five freshmen). Under the direction of fourth-year head coach (and former Aggie point guard) Jennifer Gross, UC Davis looks to build off a 2013-14 campaign that saw the Aggies finish 15-16 overall and 9-7 in Big West Conference play, advancing to the league tournament quarterfinals thanks to a late-season run that saw them win four of their final five regular season contests. Sydnee Fipps (17.7 ppg), Alyson Doherty (13.1 ppg), and Kelsey Harris (10.7 ppg), all averaged double figures in scoring for the Aggies, while Doherty (6.3 rpg) and Celia Marfone (6.1 rpg) ranked among the top 10 in rebounding in the Big West Conference.

TOURNEY-TESTED SCHEDULE: The Aggies are scheduled to face nine teams that saw some sort of postseason action in 2013-14, four of those teams in the NCAA Tournament and five more that made the WNIT field. Connecticut (National Champions), Stanford ("Final Four"), Arizona State (2nd Round), and CSUN (1st Round), all made the NCAA bracket, Southern Utah and Saint Mary's advanced to the second round of the WNIT, while league rivals Cal Poly and Hawai'i joined Pacific as WNIT selections.

HOME, SWEET HOME: Last season, it was rare to see the Aggies play at home before Christmas, with eight of the team's first 11 regular season contests played on opposing courts. This season's schedule should please the hometown faithful as UC Davis will play six of its first seven games (including Friday's exhibition) on its home court, with the lone exception being a short 20-mile jaunt across the Causeway to take on rival Sacramento State on Nov. 18.

HONORS ROLL IN FOR FIPPS: As if a second All-Big West First Team selection wasn't enough for the senior, Fipps has already garnered a host of other preseason awards from various outlets. One of six named to the All-Big West Preseason Team by a vote of media members covering the league, the Mariposa, California, native also earned preseason all-conference first-team honors (one of 10 selected) according to College Sports Madness, as well as All-Mid Major Second Team laurels by the same organization -- one of only two Big West players (CSUN guard Ashlee Guay the other) to be so honored.

DON'T FORGET DOHERTY: Junior Alyson Doherty also earned a nod on the College Sports Madness preseason All-Big West First Team alongside her teammate Sydnee Fipps, joining CSUN's Ashlee Guay, Cal Poly's Ariana Elegado, and UC Riverside's Brittany Crain.

SO, WHAT DO YOU DO FOR AN ENCORE?: Someone better get a hand in the face of senior Kelsey Harris this season or who knows what she'll accomplish. The Brea, California, native set a UC Davis single-season record with 86 makes from beyond the three-point arc, breaking the record previously held by Karen Boisvert (81) that had stood since the 1990-91 season. Harris, who ranked among the Big West's best in three-point percentage (5th, .396) and three-pointers made per game (2nd, 2.77 per game), also took the second-most three-point attempts in a season (217) and is tied for sixth on the single-season list in three-point percentage.

BY THE NUMBERS: With all but one letter winner returning for the 2014-15 season, it is almost an embarassment of riches statistically for the Aggies, who bring back 94 percent of their scoring (1,960 points), 93 percent of their rebounds (1,047), 94 percent of their assists (429), 95 percent of their steals (183), and 94 percent of their blocks (67). What does that all mean? We don't know, but numbers are fun.

"HELLO, MY NAME IS...": Name tags may be required for the first few games as fans get to know the five new faces on the UC Davis roster: Morgan Bertsch, Pele Gianotti, Dani Nafekh, Rachel Nagel, and Lauren Seyranian. The five true freshmen on this year's roster are the most for the Aggies since the 2012-13 season when that season's rookie class featured Heidi Johnson, Aniya Baker, Celia Marfone, Molly Greubel, and Alyson Doherty.

#WINNING: UC Davis' 15 wins overall and nine Big West Conference victories eclipsed the Aggies win totals in both categories from all of last season and are the most since they finished 17-13 overall and 9-7 in the Big West during the 2011-12 campaign.

THIS CLOSE: A couple of balls bounce the other way for the Aggies and the 2013-14 season could look a lot different. Of UC Davis' seven conference losses, five of those came by nine points or fewer -- a total of 52 points -- while nine of their 16 losses overall were by single digits.

RECORDS ABOUND: Aside from Kelsey Harris' record-setting performance from beyond the arc, the Aggies were also busy in other categories. Junior guard Molly Greubel set a school single-game record with a career-high 14 assists on Feb. 8 at UC Irvine, breaking the previous mark of 13 by Sara Lillevand at Cal State Stanislaus on March 10, 1990. As a team, UC Davis set a school single-game record with 39 three-point attempts on Nov. 29 against San Francisco, eclipsing the previous record of 36 set against Stanford on Dec. 28, 2008. Sydnee Fipps also added her name to the record books, sinking a single-game record 17 free throws at Pacific on Nov. 11, breaking Jackie Turpin's mark of 15 against Cal Poly on Feb. 9, 2006.