Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. -- And the freshmen shall lead them. Dani Nafekh finished with a career-high 17 points while Rachel Nagel added 11 more off the bench, as UC Davis completed an unbeaten weekend, holding off visiting Cal State Fullerton, 64-59, on Saturday afternoon at The Pavilion.

The victory was the fourth in the Aggies' last five contests, evening their record at 8-8 overall while improving to 3-1 in Big West Conference play. The Titans had their four-game winning streak snapped, falling to 8-8 overall and suffering their first loss in conference play (2-1).

"The freshmen really stepped up," Head Coach Jennifer Gross said. "I thought Dani was tremendous tonight, she just came in and immediately started to impact the game in different ways, obviously with her scoring, but defensively just pushing the ball in transition. Then, we went with a small lineup at one point when Fullerton started sagging off to try and help on drives in the paint, they left Rachel open and she stuck them in the first half."

Nafekh finished 7-of-12 from the field to reach double figures for the first time in her Division I career, adding a pair of rebounds and two steals in 28 minutes. Nagel hit a trio of three-pointers in the first half and finished 4-of-7 from the floor en route to her fourth double-digit game of the season.

Junior Alyson Doherty, held to just seven minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, finished with 10 points -- six of those at the line -- and added a team-high six rebounds.

Chante Miles, the second-leading scorer in the Big West, finished with 23 points while playing all 40 minutes. Tailer Butler added 19 points and nine rebounds in 40 minutes, while Natalie Williams grabbed 10 rebounds off the bench -- eight of those on the offensive end.

Fullerton led by as many as eight points with just over nine minutes to play after exploding for an 18-5 run over a seven-minute span, nailing five three-pointers and getting a three-point play from Miles to go up 56-48.

Doherty then scored inside and nailed a pair of free throws to start a 10-3 spurt, pulling the Aggies to within a point twice on three-pointers by Nafekh and Celia Marfone. Nagel following the latter's long-range basket with a 10-foot jumper, putting UC Davis back on top, 60-59, with just over four minutes to play, and the defense held the Titans scoreless for the final 5:43 (0-for-8 from the floor) down the stretch en route to the win.

A short jumper by Doherty gave the Aggies some breathing room with just over a minute to play, making it a three-point game. Following dueling timeouts and the ball with the luxury of taking the last shot, Fullerton got the ball to Miles, whose deep three from the left elbow with just over three seconds remaining bounced off the rim and was secured by Harris, who drained two free throws for the final margin.

The Aggies finished shooting 44 percent from the floor and 48 percent from beyond the arc, sinking 12 of their 22 makes for the game from long distance. UC Davis, which committed just 10 turnovers while scoring 16 points off 13 Fullerton miscues for the night, held the Titans to just 35 percent from the field for the game.

"I told our team at halftime, 'It doesn't matter who gets it, it doesn't matter how we get it done, we have a team full of players that can put the ball in the basket,' " Gross said. "I think we showed tonight, if you try to take one thing away from us, we have other people who can step up."

A three-game homestand comes to an end for the Aggies next week, welcoming Hawai'i to The Pavilion on Thursday (Jan. 22). Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

UC DAVIS 64, CAL STATE FULLERTON 59

CAL STATE FULLERTON (8-8, 2-1)
Miles, Chante 8-19 4-4 23; Butler, Tailer 7-17 0-0 19; King, Hailey 2-6 2-2 7; Logan, Samantha 2-8 0-0 6; Williams, Natalie 1-6 2-4 4; Johnson, Dhanyel 0-0 0-0 0; Neale, Portia 0-1 0-0 0; Tivenius, Amanda 0-0 0-0 0; Smith, Daeja 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-57 8-10 59.

UC DAVIS (8-8, 3-1)
Nafekh, Dani 7-12 0-0 17; Nagel, Rachel 4-7 0-0 11; Doherty, Alyson 2-3 6-10 10; Fipps, Sydnee 3-9 0-0 7; Salvatore, Brianna 2-3 0-0 6; Marfone, Celia 2-7 0-0 5; Beyer, Lauren 1-1 0-0 3; Gianotti, Pele 1-4 0-0 3; Harris, Kelsey 0-3 2-2 2; Johnson, Heidi 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-50 8-12 64.

Cal State Fullerton........... 33 26 - 59
UC Davis...................... 36 28 - 64

3-point goals--Cal State Fullerton 11-28 (Butler, Tailer 5-12; Miles, Chante 3-8; Logan, Samantha 2-6; King, Hailey 1-1; Neale, Portia 0-1), UC Davis 12-25 (Nagel, Rachel 3-5; Nafekh, Dani 3-6; Salvatore, Brianna 2-3; Fipps, Sydnee 1-4; Marfone, Celia 1-1; Gianotti, Pele 1-3; Beyer, Lauren 1-1; Harris, Kelsey 0-2). Fouled out--Cal State Fullerton-None, UC Davis-None. Rebounds--Cal State Fullerton 38 (Williams, Natalie 10), UC Davis 29 (Doherty, Alyson 6). Assists--Cal State Fullerton 13 (Miles, Chante 5), UC Davis 15 (Salvatore, Brianna 4). Total fouls--Cal State Fullerton 12, UC Davis 15. Technical fouls--Cal State Fullerton-None, UC Davis-None. A-594