Box Score

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- UC Davis sophomore Pele Gianotti scored a career-high 19 points and senior Alyson Doherty collected her second double-double of the season, leading the visiting Aggies to a 65-54 victory over San Diego State in a non-conference clash on Thursday night at Viejas Arena.

The win was the first of the year for UC Davis, which improved to 1-2 overall on the season and snapped a two-game losing streak to the Aztecs in the series in the first meeting between the two programs since 2006. San Diego State remained winless on the year, falling to 0-3.

"I thought defensively, we focused for the full 40 minutes," Head Coach Jennifer Gross said. "Give credit to San Diego State, they put a couple runs on and really challenged us to dig in, get some stops, get some scores. I thought a couple different times during the second half they had the momentum, and we had to step up and get a stop, and I was proud of our kids, they kept battling and made plays when they needed to."

The Aggies led for all but 39 seconds when the score was tied at 2-2, shooting just over 44 percent from the field for the game and turning 13 San Diego State turnovers into 19 points. Gianotti tied her previous career best in the first quarter alone with 11 points, finishing the night shooting 7-for-11 from the field and adding five three pointers to go with five rebounds.

"She has been so consistent for us on defense and on the boards, her shot just wasn't falling until tonight," Gross said. "She's a great scorer and she showed tonight that she can really do it all."

Doherty hit 5-of-7 from the field and blocked a career high-tying four shots to add to her double-double line, while freshman Morgan Bertsch shined in her first career start, hitting 7-of-12 from the field to add 14 points to the ledger to go with five rebounds.

Geena Gomez came off the bench to finish with 13 points to lead the Aztecs, who were held to just 33 percent shooting from the floor for the game. Leading scorer McKynzie Fort, who entered the night averaging 16.5 points per game, was held to just nine for the game on 4-of-12 from the field.

A Gianotti three -- one of three in the first quarter for the sophomore -- broke the 2-2 tie as the Aggies gained the lead for good, leading by as many as nine points midway through the first quarter, and pushing that lead to as many as 11 points on three occasions in the second quarter, the first coming on a three-pointer by Rachel Nagel that put UC Davis up, 25-14, with 6:50 to go.

Leading by nine at the break, the Aggies traded baskets with the Aztecs to open the third quarter, leading by as many as 10 points in the period until an 8-2 burst by San Diego State, whittled the advantage down to just four points with 1:17 to play before sophomore Dani Nafekh stopped the bleeding with a three -- her only basket of the game -- just before the third quarter buzzer.

San Diego State opened the final period by scoring six of the quarter's first eight points -- the last coming on a Gomez three that cut the Aggies' lead to just three points at 49-46 with 7:44 remaining in the game. However, the UC Davis offense found a way to pull away, as Doherty scored inside to spark a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to push the lead back out to 12 points with 4:37 to go, holding the Aztecs scoreless for nearly five minutes, and the Aggies led by as many as 13 points thanks to a pair of free throws by Kourtney Eaton, who also made her first career start, with less than a minute to play.

Eaton, alongside backcourt mate Nafekh, combined to finish with nine assists against only one turnover for the night.

"Being able to play two point guards against the pressure is really nice," Gross said. "I was thrilled with their performance. We have a lot of different lineups that give us different strengths and we're asking different people to step up and give what the team needs from them. Morgan was very efficient, took advantage of her size, Aly had five assists... we're still young, we're still making some mistakes, but we're growing and that's the goal."

The Aggies return to the court on Monday (Nov. 23), welcoming Air Force to The Pavilion for a 6 p.m. tip-off in Davis.

UC DAVIS 65, SAN DIEGO STATE 54
UC DAVIS (1-2)
Gianotti, Pele 7-11 0-0 19; Bertsch, Morgan 7-12 0-0 14; Doherty, Alyson 5-71-2 11; Marfone, Celia 2-3 4-4 8; Nagel, Rachel 2-7 0-0 5; Nafekh, Dani 1-71-2 4; McGuire, Taylor 0-2 2-2 2; Eaton, Kourtney 0-1 2-2 2; Seyranian,Lauren 0-3 0-0 0; Johnson, Heidi 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-54 10-12 65.

SAN DIEGO STATE (0-3)
GOMEZ, Geena 4-12 2-2 13; BOSTICK, Ariell 3-6 3-3 9; FORT, McKynzie 4-12 1-29; SMITH, Deidra 3-8 0-4 6; BRANDON, Aleiah 3-6 0-0 6; HARVEY, Ahjalee 1-31-2 4; HERD, Kylie 1-1 1-2 3; THORDERSON, Lexy 1-5 0-0 2; GREENHOUSE,Cheyenne 1-5 0-0 2; GOMEZ, Arantxa 0-0 0-0 0; ELLISON, Kymberly 0-5 0-0 0.Totals 21-63 8-15 54.

UC Davis...................... 19 12 16 18 - 65
San Diego State............... 12 10 18 14 - 54

3-point goals--UC Davis 7-19 (Gianotti, Pele 5-8; Nagel, Rachel 1-2; Nafekh,Dani 1-5; Marfone, Celia 0-1; McGuire, Taylor 0-2; Seyranian, Lauren 0-1),San Diego State 4-23 (GOMEZ, Geena 3-8; HARVEY, Ahjalee 1-2; FORT, McKynzie0-3; THORDERSON, Lexy 0-3; ELLISON, Kymberly 0-5; BOSTICK, Ariell 0-2).Fouled out--UC Davis-None, San Diego State-None. Rebounds--UC Davis 37(Doherty, Alyson 10), San Diego State 37 (SMITH, Deidra 7). Assists--UCDavis 19 (Nafekh, Dani 6), San Diego State 10 (FORT, McKynzie 4). Totalfouls--UC Davis 12, San Diego State 15. Technical fouls--UC Davis-None, SanDiego State-None. A-340Time of Game - 1:47