Box Score

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Senior Alyson Doherty finished with a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead three Aggies in double figures, and UC Davis shot 50 percent in the second half to break open a nine-point halftime lead en route to an 82-70 win over Portland State on Friday night at the Peter W. Stott Center.

Playing in front of a pro-UC Davis crowd in hostile territory, the Aggies won their third straight, improving to 3-2 overall thanks to a season-high scoring output. The Vikings, held to just 29 percent shooting in the first half, remained winless on the year at 0-5.

"If we play hard on defense for 40 minutes, if we make great decisions on offense, we know we can beat anybody," Head Coach Jennifer Gross. "We have the ability to play really big, we have the ability to go smaller, faster, quicker… It's nice, as a coach, to know that I have all these different players and I know exactly what I'm going to get from them."

For Doherty, it was her third double-double in five games, hitting 8-of-12 from the field and 6-of-7 from the line en route to her season high after being held to without an attempt in the first 10 minutes. It was her ninth career 20-point scoring performance and her first since scoring a career-high 27 against UC Irvine on March 7 of last season.

Sophomore Rachel Nagel added 17 points and four rebounds, and was joined in double figures by freshman Morgan Bertsch, who came off the bench to add a career-high 16 points and two blocks in 23 minutes. Senior Celia Marfone, held to just three points on the night, was huge on the boards, finishing with 10 to record her 13th career double-digit rebounding game -- the most among active Aggies.

UC Davis also recorded a season-high 26 assists on its 33 makes -- the second-highest single-game total in the program's Division I history, trailing only the 29 assists dished out against Saint Mary's on Dec. 17, 2007, in a 98-91 victory at The Pavilion. Sophomore Dani Nafekh contributed a career-high eight of the 26, while freshman Kourtney Eaton added seven more, combining for 15 assists against only two turnovers between the pair.

Corey James, who finished 8-of-15 with four three pointers finished with a game-high 23 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes to lead Portland State, which also received 11 points from Ashley Torres and 10 more from Cici West.

After dueling three-pointers to open the game, the Aggies fell behind by as many as eight points following a 7-0 burst by the Vikings, capped by a three from James the put the home team up 12-4 over a UC Davis squad that hadn't trailed in each of its last two wins. The Aggies began to chip away, responding with a run of their own, as a three-pointer by Nagel capped a 9-0 spurt over the next minute to regain the lead, 13-12, with 5:47 to play.

A basket by James accounted for another lead change, but Bertsch sank a short jumper for the final lead change of the night and UC Davis never looked back. The Aggies scored the final seven points of the first quarter, and a 9-2 run midway through the second gave the visitors a double-digit lead as UC Davis carried a 36-27 advantage into the locker room at the break.

Another three-pointer by James out of halftime brought Portland State back to within six, but that would be the closest the Vikings would come. The Aggies led by as many as 17 points at 59-42 with 2:13 to play in the third quarter and never led their hosts back within single digits the rest of the way.

"We got up by a good amount in the second half and, give Portland State credit, they kept battling and forced us to stand up, make plays, and get stops," Gross said. "We're learning more about ourselves every day and, the best part is, we're having a lot of fun doing it."

UC Davis finished with a 38-20 advantage in the paint and turned 20 Viking turnovers into 19 points.

The Aggies close out their trip to the Pacific Northwest on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., taking on the University of Portland at the Chiles Center.

UC DAVIS 82, PORTLAND STATE 70
UC DAVIS (3-2)
Doherty, Alyson 8-12 6-7 22; Nagel, Rachel 7-17 0-0 17; Bertsch, Morgan 8-13 0-0 16; Eaton, Karley 2-4 0-0 6; Nafekh, Dani 2-6 0-0 5; Gianotti, Pele 2-6 0-0 5; Eaton, Kourtney 2-5 0-0 5; Johnson, Heidi 1-5 1-3 3; Marfone, Celia 1-6 1-2 3; Seyranian, Lauren 0-0 0-0 0; McGuire, Taylor 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 33-76 8-12 82.

PORTLAND STATE (0-5)
JAMES, Corey 8-15 3-4 23; TORRES, Ashley 3-7 3-4 11; WEST, Cici 4-8 2-3 10; HALEY, Danah 2-5 2-2 6; McNAIR, Kian 2-5 0-0 5; CARLINE, Alicia 1-3 2-2 4; JURHAR, Pia 2-4 0-0 4; KAY, Michaela 1-9 0-0 3; MEJIA, Yaremi 0-1 2-2 2; WALTERS, Montana 0-5 2-2 2; SHEPARD, Bree 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-64 16-19 70.

UC Davis...................... 20 16 25 21 - 82
Portland State................ 14 13 21 22 - 70

3-point goals--UC Davis 8-24 (Nagel, Rachel 3-10; Eaton, Karley 2-3; Gianotti, Pele 1-4; Eaton, Kourtney 1-3; Nafekh, Dani 1-3; Marfone, Celia 0-1), Portland State 8-23 (JAMES, Corey 4-8; TORRES, Ashley 2-4; McNAIR, Kian 1-2; KAY, Michaela 1-7; WALTERS, Montana 0-2). Fouled out- UC Davis-None, Portland State-None. Rebounds--UC Davis 45 (Marfone, Celia 10; Doherty, Alyson 10), Portland State 40 (WEST, Cici 8). Assists--UC Davis 26 (Nafekh, Dani 8), Portland State 16 (KAY, Michaela 4). Total fouls--UC Davis 19, Portland State 12. Technical fouls--UC Davis-Johnson, Heidi, Portland State-None. A-257