NEXT UP…
GAME 28: UC Davis (21-6, 12-2) at UC Riverside (15-13, 9-6)
Thursday, March 2, 2017
7:00 p.m.
SRC Arena (2,750)
Riverside, Calif.
TV: None
RADIO: KDVS 90.3 FM
Game Coverage: Gameday Central (Stats/Audio/Video) | UC Davis Notes | UC Riverside Notes

TIP-OFF: The magic number for the UC Davis women's basketball team is two for an outright Big West Conference title as the first-place Aggies return to Southern California for the final week of the regular season. Winners of eight straight, UC Davis (21-6, 12-2) opens on Thursday night (March 2) at UC Riverside, tipping off at 7 p.m. at the SRC Arena on campus.

IN THE POLLS: Both UC Davis and UC Riverside are unranked nationally this week by the Associated Press and USA Today… The Aggies are among those receiving votes for the third consecutive week in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll, picking up four votes according to the Feb. 28 rankings. This is the sixth week overall that UC Davis has been among that group this season, gaining a season-high 11 votes back on 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 HIGHLANDERS: UC Riverside enters the week with a 15-13 overall record and a 9-6 mark in Big West play to rank fourth in the Big West standings... The Highlanders were swept in their two games last week, falling at home to Long Beach State, 73-66, before taking a nine-point loss on the road at CSUN... Eight of the team's 15 wins have come at home this season, as UCR is 8-4 at the SRC Arena... Rejane Verin is the conference's leading scorer at 17.2 points per game, shooting .465 from the floor and grabbing 8.6 rebounds per game... Simone DeCoud (12.1 ppg) and Lauren Holt (12.0 ppg) are also in double figures for the Highlanders.

SERIES NOTES: According to records that date back to the 1971-72 season, UC Davis leads the all-time series with UC Riverside, 34-23, having won two straight, and 10 of the last 13, including a 72-55 win at The Pavilion earlier this year... The Aggies also hold a 13-10 margin in the series with the Highlanders during the former's Division I Era... UC Davis is just 11-13 against Riverside on the road (with the locations of two games in the series unknown), having lost its last two trips to the Inland Empire (and seven of the last 10) with each of those games decided by seven points or fewer... The Aggies' last win in Riverside came on Jan. 16, 2014, in a 77-67 triumph.

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 just one win 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 two regular season games remaining (plus any possible tournament contests), Gross could reach the milestone as soon as this Saturday (March 2) at UC Riverside.

GIANOTTI NAMED BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK: A pair of team-best performances has netted UC Davis junior Pele Gianotti her first career Big West Player of the Week honor after helping the Aggies remain in first place heading into the final week of the regular season. The Myrtle Creek, Ore., native torched the nets against the league's Central Coast contingent, averaging 22.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in wins over Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara, hitting 12-of-19 (.632) from the field and 7-of-11 (.636) from beyond the arc, while making all 13 of her free throw attempts on the week. For a complete recap of her week, read the entire release at http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/022717aaa.html.

RARE HONOR: Gianotti joined Morgan Bertsch (Dec. 26) as UC Davis player of the week honorees this season -- the first time that the Aggies have had two players earn the conference's weekly award in the same year since Cortney French and Sydnee Fipps did so on Nov. 26, 2012, and March 4, 2013, respectively.

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.

STREAKING: Saturday's win over UC Santa Barbara extended the Aggies' winning streak to eight straight games -- establishing a new benchmark for consecutive victories in the program's Division I Era, and its longest since UC Davis won nine-in-a-row from Jan. 19-Feb. 23, 2006.

FEBRUARY IS FOR WINNERS: The Aggies finished off an undefeated February with their win over UC Santa Barbara, improving to 6-0 in the shortest month of the year. The last time UC Davis went undefeated in a month, was in February of 2008 when the Aggies finished a perfect 7-0 (UC Davis was also 5-0 in November of that season), while this year's six wins are the most in a single month since they finished 7-1 in January of 2010.

FORESHADOWING?: The Aggies' win over Cal Poly on Feb. 22 secured the program's third 20-win season in its Division I history (and the 15th overall since the 1979-80 season), surpassing last year's win total with two games still to play in the regular season. The last time UC Davis won 20 games? The Aggies finished 24-9, won the Big West Tournament, and earned their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth in 2010-11. UC Davis also won 20 games in 2009-10 (21-11), advancing to the WNIT following its first Big West regular season title after finishing 11-3 in league that year.

#PROTECTTHEPAVILION: Saturday's "Senior Day" win over UC Santa Barbara helped the Aggies finish with an impressive 12-2 record within the friendly confines of The Pavilion this season, surpassing last season's home win total (8-5) and posting 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 16 of their last 19 on their home floor, and are a combinbed 49-32 (.605) at The Pavilion under Head Coach Jennifer Gross.

HOME COOKIN': Wednesday's win also have the Aggies their sixth straight win at The Pavilion -- the longest in a single season dating back to the 2009-10 campaign when UC Davis rattled off eight consecutive victories from Jan. 7-March 6. That run was part of a much-longer 13 consecutive wins at home for the Aggies, that ran into the first five games of the 2010-11 season.

ANOTHER MILESTONE ON THE HORIZON?: Bertsch is just 103 points away from becoming the 18th player in UC Davis history to reach 1,000 career points. 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.

FROM WAAAY DOWNTOWN: The Aggies were dialed in from long distance in their sweep of Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara last week, hitting 20-of-39 (.513) from beyond the arc -- accounting for more than a third of their 52 makes from the field. The 20 three's matched the team's total from its previous four games combined when UC Davis finished 20-for-64 (.313) from beyond the arc, and marked the sixth and seventh times this season that the Aggies have finished with double-digit makes from three-point range.

GIANOTTI GOES BIG: Her two performances last week against the Central Coast schools gave her double digits in four straight games, and seven of her last eight overall, averaging 16.5 ppg during that stretch while shooting .541 (46-for-85) from the floor and .478 (22-for-46) from beyond the arc.

GIVING NO QUARTER: Gianotti scored 21 of her game-high 25 points in the second half against Cal Poly, 13 of those coming in the fourth quarter -- the most scored by an Aggie since the NCAA switched to the quarter system in 2015-16 -- while Dani Nafekh's 12-point second quarter is now tied for second on that list. Meanwhile, the 26-point second quarter against UC Santa Barbara is tied for ninth, while the seven points scored by the Gauchos in the first quarter rank tied for the ninth-fewest surrendered by the UC Davis defense. Of the 14 lowest scoring quarters by an Aggie opponent, nine have come in the first half.

DOUBLE-DIGIT DUTY: Bertsch's 25 double-digit scoring performances rank tied for fourth on the school's single-season list during the program's Division I Era, while the 46 for her career stand fifth on the career chart during that same time. The sophomore's eight 20-point games this season also rank fifth, while the 18 for her career stand second behind only Sydnee Fipps, who had 32 such games from 2012-15.

SPEAKING OF DOUBLE DIGITS: Since being held to a season-low two points against Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 28, Bertsch has blown up, reaching double figures in each of her last six contests -- including a trio of 20-point games -- averaging 19.3 ppg while shooting .565 (48-for-85) from the field.

SHE CAN DISH IT OUT: With three more assists on Saturday against UC Santa Barbara, junior Dani Nafekh has helped herself right into the UC Davis record books, recording her 277th career assist to break a tie with Jessica Campbell for 10th on the school's all-time list in that category and eight back of Hana Asano for the program's Division I career record (and No. 9 on the career 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 (285), Nafekh (277), Kourtney Eaton (228), Blair Shinoda (223), Alyson Doherty (214), and Celia Marfone (206).

CENTURY MARK: Three blocks on Saturday against UC Santa Barbara put UC Davis over the century mark in the category for the second straight season, the third time in the last five years, and the fourth time since NCAA records are available (since 1992-93), entering the final week of the regular season with 102 as a team. The total stands just 23 back of the school single-season record of 125 set last season.

RUN AWAY AND HIDE: Thanks to a 19-point triumph over Hawai'i on Feb. 16, nine of the Aggies' last 12 victories -- and 14 of their 21 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 20 wins have been decided by 20-or-more points following a 20-point victory over UC Irvine on Feb. 11.

RECORD CHASING: Bertsch's 82nd career block on Saturday against UC Santa Barbara solidifed her hold on seventh place on the school's all-time list, standing just five swats back of current assistant coach Des Abeyta for the No. 6 spot. Bertsch's 46 blocks this season (which rank No. 83 in the NCAA as of Feb. 27), has her in fifth place on the school's single-season list, just two back of Kendall Greene's 1993-94 total and 10 shy of Paige Mintun's record of 56 during the 2010-11 campaign.

DROPPING DIMES: Kourtney Eaton's six assists on Saturday against UC Santa Barbara marked the 10th time this season -- and the 21st time in her career -- that the Longview, Wash., native has finished with at least five assists in a game to go along with eight games of seven-or-more. Powered by her team-high 115 assists this season, the Aggies rank among the top 25 in the nation in both assists (454 overall) and assists per game (16.8 apg) -- good for No. 39 and No. 20, respectively, in each category as of Feb. 27. Meanwhile, Eaton ranks No. 101 in the nation at 4.42 apg and No. 125 in overall assists.

ONE FOR YOU, NONE FOR THEM: In racking up those 115 assists, Eaton has turned the ball over only 46 times this season, posting an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.5 that ranks second in the Big West and No. 25 in the NCAA. Eaton has finished with no fewer than three assists in 24 of the team's 27 games, while turning the ball over two-or-fewer times in 18 of those contests -- including five games with zero turnovers. Overall, the Aggies rank No. 18 in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.25 as a team as of Feb. 27.

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. UC Davis continues to rank among the top 30 in the nation in both field goal percentage defense (No. 23) and three-point percentage defense (No. 29), allowing opponents to shoot .357 from the floor and .278 from beyond the arc, while holding 10 different opponents to less than 60 points in a game this season.