NEXT UP…
GAME 25: UC Davis (18-6, 9-2) at Hawai'i (8-15, 4-7)
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017
7:00 p.m. HT/9:00 p.m. PT
Stan Sheriff Center (10,300)
Honolulu, Hawai'i
TV: OC Sports (http://www.hawaiiathletics.com/watch/?Live=48)
RADIO: KDVS 90.3 FM
Game Coverage: Gameday Central (Audio/Video/Stats) | UC Davis Notes | Hawai'i Women's Basketball

TIP-OFF: The momentum of a five-game winning streak carries the first-place UC Davis women's basketball team (18-6, 9-2) across the Pacific Ocean for its only game of the week -- a Thursday night (Feb. 16) clash at Hawai'i on the Islands. Tip off from the Stan Sheriff Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. HT/9 p.m. PT.

IN THE POLLS: Both UC Davis and Hawai'i are unranked nationally this week by the Associated Press and USA Today… The Aggies are receiving three votes in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll released on Feb. 14, returning to the rankings for the first time since Jan. 10.

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 (facebook.com/UCDavisWomensBasketball) as well as follow them on Twitter and Instagram (@UCDavisWBB). In-game updates on game day are also available on Twitter by following @UCDavisInGame.

ABOUT THE RAINBOW WAHINE: Hawai'i enters the week with an 8-15 overall record and a 4-7 mark in Big West Conference play, but the Rainbow Wahine have lost their last four straight games dating back to a nine point win over Cal Poly on Jan. 28... Seven of the team's eight victories have come at the Stan Sheriff Center, where they had won five straight before falling to UC Riverside (79-59) and UC Santa Barbara (67-52) last week... Junior guard Sarah Toeaina and senior guard Briana Harris are both in double figures, averaging 13.9 ppg and 10.1 ppg, respectively... Freshman forward Makenna Woodfolk paces the team on the boards at 5.9 rpg... Hawai'i averages just 58.6 ppg and shoots just .365 from the field while opponents are averaging 65.3 ppg and shooting .397.

SERIES NOTES: Hawai'i leads the all-time series with UC Davis, 8-5, with the Aggies snapping a two-game skid against the Rainbow Wahine with their, 70-55, win at The Pavilion in the second Big West game of the season... UC Davis is just 2-4 against Hawai'i on the road, having lost the last four meetings in Honolulu... The Aggies' last win on the Rainbow Wahine's home court came on Dec. 20, 2011, in a 62-57 victory... The last three meetings have been decided by double figures following four straight battles that were decided by five points or fewer.

INCOMING!: UC Davis women's basketball solidified its front line with a trio of signings during the NCAA's early signing period on Nov. 10, welcoming three high school standouts to the "Aggie Family." Southern California natives Kayla Konrad (Valencia, Calif. / Valencia HS) and Cierra Hall (Cypress, Calif. / Fairmont Prep Academy) join highly-rated Canadian post Sage Stobbart (North Vancouver, British Columbia / Seycove Secondary School) in the Aggies' signing class, who all begin their careers as true freshmen in 2017-18. For more details on the three signees, read the entire release at http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/111016aac.html.

#PROTECTTHEPAVILION: With an 10-2 record within the friendly confines of The Pavilion this season and two home contests remaining this season, UC Davis has already surpassed last season's home win total (8-5) and has posted the most home victories since the 2010-11 squad set the Division I Era record for home wins with a 12-3 mark. The Aggies have won 14 of their last 17 on their home floor, and are a combinbed 47-32 (.595) at The Pavilion under Head Coach Jennifer Gross.

CLOSING IN: Five straight victories have the Aggies at 18 overall and nine in Big West play entering this week's single game, putting UC Davis just one shy of both of its win totals for all of last year when it finished 19-13 overall and 10-6 in league.

STREAKING: Saturday's win against UC Irvine gave the Aggies their season-best fifth straight victory, surpassing their 4-0 start to the 2016-17 season for the longest of the year. This year's streak is the longest for UC Davis since it won six straight from Nov. 19-Dec. 6 during last season.

ALL SHE DOES IS WIN, WIN, WIN: Head Coach Jennifer Gross is listed among the Aggie record books in a number of categories, including one which has her as the winningest UC Davis player of all time as a part of 101 total victories as a student-athlete from 1993-97, winning no fewer than 22 games in a season during her four years, culminating in a 29-3 record and a third-place finish nationally as a senior. That winning mentality has carried over into her coaching career as the Aggies' sixth-year mentor stands four wins shy of 100, which would put her alonside former coaches Sandy Simpson (251), Jorja Hoehn (205), and Pam Gill-Fisher (164), as UC Davis women's basketball coaches who have reached the century mark in the win column. With five regular season games remaining (plus any possible tournament contests), Gross could reach the milestone as soon as March 2 at UC Riverside.

ANOTHER MILESTONE ON THE HORIZON?: Bertsch is just 160 points away from becoming the 18th player in UC Davis history to reach 1,000 points for her career, but she has some work to do -- needing to average 26.7 ppg over the final six games of the season (five regular season games, plus the possibility of only one postseason contest). If she were to reach the mark with a monster finish this season, Bertsch would become the first sophomore to do so in the history of the program after three former greats (Carol Rische, Ellen Porshneva, and Sydnee Fipps) accomplished the feat as juniors.

RUN AGGIES, RUN!: It only took seven minutes for the Aggies to take control of last week's game against UC Irvine, opening the game with a 19-0 run and outscoring the Anteaters 29-4 in the first quarter en route to a 20-point victory. The scoreless run was the longest by UC Davis this season, while the four points by Irvine were the fewest in a quarter since the Aggies held UC Riverside to the same total in the third quarter of a victory on Jan. 26 at The Pavilion -- the fewest versus a Division I opponent and one off the record of three against Cal State Monterey Bay back on Dec. 6, 2015.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: When the Aggies held the Anteaters to four points in the first quarter last week, it ranked among the lowest scoring quarters by a UC Davis opponent since the NCAA switched to the format last season. Of the top 13 lowest scoring periods by an Aggie opponent, eight of those have come in the first quarter.

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?: UC Davis held UC Irvine to just 22 percent shooting from the field in last week's victory -- the fifth time this season that the Aggies have held an opponent to under 30 percent. The Anteaters' mark was a season low for a UC Davis opponent, and the lowest since UC Davis limited UC Irvine to just 10-of-59 (.169) from the field in a 56-24 win almost eight years ago to the day on Feb. 12, 2009.

DE-FENSE! (CLAP, CLAP) DE-FENSE! (CLAP, CLAP): Take your best shot, but the Aggies' defense will make sure it's not a good one. The Aggies enter the week ranked among the top 25 in the nation in both field goal percentage defense (No. 16) and three-point field goal defense (No. 18), allowing opponents to shoot just over 35 percent overall and just over 27 percent from beyond the arc. As a result, each of the Aggies' last five opponents have scored 55 points or fewer, held to an average of 47.4 ppg during UC Davis' recent win streak.

WIRE-TO-WIRE: Saturday's win over UC Irvine marked the third straight game -- and the fifth time this season -- that UC Davis has led wire-to-wire, joining victories over Holy Names (Nov. 13), UC Irvine (Jan. 5), Cal Poly (Feb. 2), and UC Santa Barbara (Feb. 4). The Aggies haven't trailed for the last 144:15 of gametime dating back to a three-pointer by Cal State Fullerton's Jordan Jackson for a, 14-13, Titan lead at the 5:45 mark of the second quarter on Jan. 28.

RUN AWAY AND HIDE: Thanks to a 20-point triumph over UC Irvine last Saturday, eight of the Aggies' last nine victories -- and 13 of their 18 wins overall this season -- have been by double digits, with the largest being a 41-point triumph over UC Irvine back on Jan. 5. In addition, seven of those 18 wins have been decided by 20-or-more points following last week's triumph.

CENTURY MARK: With 91 blocks thus far this season, the Aggies are just nine away from hitting the century mark for the second straight year and 34 back of the school's single-season mark of 125 established last season. Should they reach 100 for the year, it will be the third time in the last five seasons that the Aggies will tally at least 100 blocks in a single campaign, and the fourth time since NCAA records are available in 1992-93 along with the 1994-95 UC Davis team that swatted an even 100.

MORGAN DOUBLES UP: After posting back-to-back 20-point outings to pace UC Davis against the league's Central Coast contingent, sophomore Morgan Bertsch did a little bit of everything in the win over Irvine, collecting her third career double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds, a pair of assists, and three blocks, tying her season high on the glass. It was the Santa Rosa, Calif., native's first double-double since she finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds against Hofstra back on Nov. 27, and is one of four Aggies to post a double-double this season along with junior Pele Gianotti (twice), Marly Anderson, and Rachel Nagel.

DOUBLE-DIGIT DUTY: Bertsch's 22 double-digit scoring performances rank tied for sixth on the school's single-season list during the program's Division I Era, while the 43 for her career stand fifth on the career chart during that same time. The sophomore's seven 20-point games this season also rank tied for fifth, while the 17 for her career stand second behind only Sydnee Fipps, who had 32 such games from 2012-15.

RECORD CHASING: Three more swats in the win over UC Irvine last week solidified Bertsch's hold on eighth place on the school's all-time list with 76, standing four back of Ellen Porshneva (2003-06, 2007-08 for the No. 7 spot. Bertsch's 40 blocks this season (which rank No. 81 in the NCAA as of Feb. 13) moved her into a tie for sixth place on the school's single-season list with Janae Henning's 2001-02 total, and standing just four back of Kendall Greene's 1994-95 total, while Bertsch also ranks third on the program's Division I single-season chart behind Paige Mintun (56) and Alyson Doherty (50).

AND THE BEAT GOES ON: Taking a page out of her sister Kourtney's book, sophomore Karley Eaton stepped into the starting lineup on Saturday against UC Irvine and the Aggie offense didn't miss a beat. Karley set new career benchmarks with six rebounds and six assists in the 20-point UC Davis win, adding four points and playing in a career-best 28 minutes against the Anteaters.

DROPPING DIMES: Kourtney Eaton's career high-tying nine assists at UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 4 marked the ninth time this season -- and the 20th time in her career -- that the Washington native has finished with at least five assists in a game, and the eighth time in her two seasons as an Aggie with seven-or-more in a game.

FROM WAY DOWNTOWN: En route to her fourth double-digit scoring performance in the last five games, junior Pele Gianotti set the Pavilion nets on fire last week, draining a quartet of three-pointers on her way to 14 points. It marked the fourth time this season that the Myrtle Creek, Ore., native has finished with four three's in a game, moving her into fifth on the school's Division I career list for makes from beyond the arc with 112 -- a mark held by Sydnee Fipps (192 from 2011-15).

DEAD-EYE DANI: Junior Dani Nafekh was in a zone against the Anteaters, finishing with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-9 from the floor (including four three-pointers to bring her team-high total to 44) and adding six rebounds in the win. It was the third career 20-point performance for the Canadian -- all coming this season -- and the 14th time Nafekh has reached double figures this year. That latter figure is quite a jump for the junior, who had scored in double figures only six times in her previous two seasons.

HELPING HANDS: Powered by Kourtney Eaton's team-high 104 assists this season, the Aggies rank among the top 25 in the nation in both assists (393 overall) and assists per game (17.1 apg) -- good for No. 31 and No. 21, respectively, in each category as of Feb. 14.

ONE FOR YOU, NONE FOR THEM: In racking up those 104 assists, Eaton has turned the ball over only 39 times this season, posting an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.67 that ranks first in the Big West and No. 18 in the NCAA. The Longview, Wash., native has finished with no fewer than three assists in 22 of the team's 24 games, while turning the ball over two-or-fewer times in 17 of those contests -- including five games with zero turnovers. Overall, the Aggies rank No. 24 in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.22 as a team as of Feb. 14.

SHE CAN DISH IT OUT: With two assists against UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 4, junior Dani Nafekh solidified her hold on second place on the school's Division I career list with 266, standing only 12 back of Hana Asano for the program's Division I mark and eight behind Jessica Campbell for 10th on the school's all-time list. Nafekh is one of only six players to amass 200-or-more assists at the Division I level in the program's history: Asano, Nafekh, Blair Shinoda (223), Kourtney Eaton (217), Alyson Doherty (214), and Celia Marfone (206).

SWIPER, NO SWIPING: UC Davis was a little handsy on Feb. 2 at Cal Poly, finishing the night with a season-high 18 steals -- the third time in the last six games that the Aggies have finished in double figures in that category and the most since they had the same number against Akron on Nov. 30, 2013. Led by a career-high tying five swipes from sophomore Kourtney Eaton, UC Davis finished just four shy of the school's Division I record of 22 at CSUN on Feb. 9, 2008.

FEW AND FAR BETWEEN: When the Aggies turned the ball over on Jan. 14 against CSUN, it must have come as a shock to many because it didn't happen very often. UC Davis finished with only six miscues against the Matadors, not only setting a new season best, but tying the program's Division I record set against CSUN in 2010-11 and tied against UC Riverside a year later.