NEXT UP…
GAME 23: UC Davis (16-6, 7-2) at UC Santa Barbara (11-10, 6-2)
Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017
2:00 p.m.
The Thunderdome (6,000)
Santa Barbara, Calif.
TV: None
RADIO: KDVS 90.3 FM
Game Coverage: Gameday Central (Audio/Video/Stats) | UC Davis Notes | UCSB Women's Basketball

TIP-OFF: Winners of three straight and seven of its last nine, first-place UC Davis (16-6, 7-2) looks to finish off a perfect trip down the California coast on Saturday (Feb. 4) at 2 p.m., meeting second-place UC Santa Barbara in a battle of the Big West Conference's top two teams at The Thunderdome.

IN THE POLLS: Both UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara are unranked nationally this week by the Associated Press, USA Today, or the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll.

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 GAUCHOS: UC Santa Barbara enters Saturday's game with a 11-10 overall record and a 6-2 mark in Big West Conference play, enjoying an extra day of rest following a 57-37 victory win at home against Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 1... The Gauchos have won two straight, and six of their last seven, with their only defeat a 75-61 decision at CSUN on Jan. 25... Six of the team's 11 victories have come at The Thunderdome this season, where UCSB is 6-3... Sophomore Sarah Porter leads the offense, averaging 10.3 ppg and shooting just under 40 percent from the field this season, part of a lineup that has five Gauchos averaging at least nine points per game... Junior Drew Edelman leads the way on the boards, averaging 7.1 rpg to go with her 9.8 ppg.

SERIES NOTES: According to game-by-game records that date back to the 1974-75 season, UC Santa Barbara leads the all-time series with UC Davis, 17-15, but the Aggies hold a 13-9 advantage during the program's Division I Era... UC Davis split the regular season series with UCSB last season, posting an, 80-51, win at home, and also took home a, 71-67, victory in the Big West Tournament... The Aggies have won six of their last eight against the Gauchos, and two of the last three at The Thunderdome, the last coming on Jan. 31, 2015, in a 60-54 overtime triumph... UC Davis is 6-8 all-time against UCSB on the road.

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.

SHOOTER!: UC Davis remains at the top of the Big West when it comes to scoring offense at 70.6 ppg (No. 77 in the nation), helped along by the fact that UC Davis is one of the most accurate shooting teams in the country. The Aggies rank No. 38 in the NCAA in field goal (.441), No. 53 in free throw (.742), and No. 39 in three-point percentage (.358), entering Saturday's game at UCSB leading the Big West in field goal and three-point percentage, while standing second in free throw percentage.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NATION: Entering the week, the Aggies also rank among the top 50 in the country in assists per game (No. 23), fewest turnover per game (No. 46), fewest fouls per game (No. 38), assist-to-turnover ratio (No. 26), three-point percentage defense (No. 29), three-pointers made (No. 45), overall assists (No. 23), and field goal percentage defense (No. 33). Overall, UC Davis ranks among the top 100 teams in 18 different categories as of Feb. 3.

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 six 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 seven regular season games remaining (plus any possible tournament contests), Gross could reach the milestone as soon as March 2 at UC Riverside.

STREAKING: Thursday's win at Cal Poly was the third straight for UC Davis, giving the Aggies three winning streaks of at least three games this season. A win Saturday at UC Santa Barbara would tie the team's longest, matching the four straight victories to start the year.

SWIPER, NO SWIPING: UC Davis was a little handsy on Thursday night at Cal Poly, finishing the night with a season-high 18 steals -- the third time in the last five 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 steals shy of the school's Division I Era record of 22 at CSUN on Feb. 9, 2008.

MMMMM... TURNOVERS: Apple? Cherry? Basketball flavored? We don't know about that last one, but the Aggies' defense has been in love with the turnover in the last two games, forcing the opposition into a combined 47 in that span while committing just 25 of their own. The 23 forced miscues on Thursday night at Cal Poly led to 21 points for the good guys, and marked the third time this season that UC Davis has forced 20-or-more turnovers in a game, tied for second behind the 24 forced against Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 28 at The Pavilion.

WIRE-TO-WIRE: Thursday's win at Cal Poly marked the third time this season that UC Davis has led wire-to-wire, joining victories over Holy Names (Nov. 13) and UC Irvine (Jan. 5).

ALL THE SINGLE LADIES: Emily Anderson led Cal Poly with nine points in the Aggies win over the Mustangs on Thursday night, marking the first time that UC Davis has held an opposing team without a double digit scorer since Dec. 6, 2015, against Cal State Monterey Bay, and the first Division I team without a player with 10-or-more points since Jan. 24, 2013, when the Aggies shutout Cal State Fullerton in an 88-44 win.

RUN AWAY AND HIDE: Thanks to a 17-point triumph over UC Riverside and a 20-point win against Cal State Fullerton last week, six of the Aggies' last seven victories -- and 11 of their 16 wins overall this season -- have been by double digits, with the largest being a 41-point triumph over UC Irvine on the road back on Jan. 5.

MILESTONE ON THE HORIZON?: Bertsch is just 199 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 24.9 ppg over the final eight games of the season (seven 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.

20-20-20-20-20-20 VISION: A huge second half by Bertsch in Thursday's win at Cal Poly powered the Aggies to the eight-point win as the Santa Rosa, Calif., native scored 18 of her game-high 20 points after the break in the 61-53 victory. It marked the sixth 20-point performance for Bertsch this season (and the 16th of her career), reaching double figures for the 20th time this season. The total was her highest since she scored 24 at home on Jan. 7 against Hawai'i.

BUT THEY'LL NEVER TAKE OUR FREE THROWS: After going to the line a combined 10 times in their previous two games, the Aggies were frequent visitors to the stripe on Thursday at Cal Poly, taking 23 attempts against the Mustangs in the eight-point victory. Led by a career high-tying eight makes by sophomore Morgan Bertsch, UC Davis posted its most since taking 27 foul shots at Sacramento State on Dec. 18, and the third-highest after the 30 attempts at Pacific on Nov. 21.

RECORD CHASING: After going without a block in back-to-back games against UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton, Bertsch got back into the block column on Thursday at Cal Poly, solidifying her hold on eighth place on the school's all-time list with 72 career swats. She is just seven back of Ellen Porshneva (2003-06, 2007-08) for the No. 7 spot and her 37 swats this season (which rank No. 77 in the NCAA) moves her into sole possession of eighth place on the school's single-season list, just one back of Staci Stevens' total from 1987-88.

CENTURY MARK: With 84 blocks thus far this season, the Aggies are just 16 away from hitting the century mark for the second straight year and 41 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 squad that finished with an even 100 for the year.

GIANOTTI GOES OFF: A season-high 22 points (8-of-11 from the field) against UC Riverside has ignited the scoring juices for junior Pele Gianotti, who has reached double figures in each of the team's last three games, averaging 16.3 ppg and 6.3 rpg while shooting .528 (19-for-36) from the floor -- including 42 percent (8-for-19) clip from beyond the arc -- in that span. The 22 points against the Highlanders marked the second 20-point game of the season for Gianotti (her first since finishing with 20 in the season opener against Portland on Nov. 11) and her fourth career 20-point performance.

NOT BAD, NAGEL: A 12-point night on Thursday at Cal Poly gave junior Rachel Nagel double figures in her third consecutive contest, averaging 11.0 ppg on 12-of-32 (.375) shooting in that span. Nagel has reached double figures 11 times overall this season, ranking fourth on the team in that category behind Morgan Bertsch (20), Dani Nafekh (13), and Pele Gianotti (12).

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A POINT MAKES: Thanks to its big win against UC Riverside on Feb. 26, UC Davis is a perfect 12-0 this season when scoring 70-or-more points, but is just 4-6 when held to 69-or-fewer after its 61-53 win at Cal Poly on Feb. 2.

SHE CAN DISH IT OUT: Junior Dani Nafekh has solidified her hold on second place on the school's Division I list for career assists with 264, ranking behind only Hana Asano (278) on that list, and moving her closer to Jessica Campbell (274) for 10th on the all-time chart, needing just 10 more to match the all-time Aggie great. Nafekh became the fifth player in the program's Division I history to reach 200 assists, joining Asano, Blair Shinoda (223), Alyson Doherty (214), and Celia Marfone (206).

I'LL TAKE EATON FOR 200, ALEX: With seven assists on Jan. 28 against Cal State Fullerton, sophomore Kourtney Eaton became the sixth player in the school's Division I history to reach 200 for a career, and enters Saturday's game with 208, joining teammate Dani Nafekh on that chart. Leading the league with 95 assists overall entering the week, Eaton has finished with no fewer than three assists in 21 of the team's 22 games, while turning the ball over two-or-fewer times in 16 of those contests -- including five games with zero turnovers. Entering Saturday, Eaton also leads the Big West, and ranks No. 24 in the nation, with a 2.5 assist-to-turnover ratio.

DROPPING DIMES: Eaton's seven assists against Fullerton on Jan. 28 marked the eighth time this season -- and the 19th time in her career -- that the Washington native has finished with at least five assists in a game, and the seventh time in her two seasons as an Aggie with seven-or-more in a game.

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.

THAT'S FOUL: UC Davis was whistled for only eight fouls against the Matadors -- tied for the second fewest in a single game in the program's Division I history, standing behind only the six fouls called against the Aggies against Florida A&M last season.

YOU GET MY POINT: Aside from being the third-largest margin of victory in the program's Division I history, the Aggies' 41-point win at UC Irvine is the largest for the program since they posted a 55-point victory over Cal State Monterey Bay back on Dec. 6, 2015, and the largest margin of victory in a Big West game since UC Davis defeated Cal State Fullerton, 88-44, on Jan. 24, 2013. The 89 points were also the most in a conference opener for the Aggies, and the most against a Big West opponent since defeating UCI, 91-72, in 2011.

ROOM TO BOARD: When UC Davis finished with a season-high 52 rebounds in its win at UC Irvine on Jan. 5, the Aggies posted their third-highest single-game rebounding total in the program's Division I Era, and the most since they grabbed a D-1 record 56 boards in a win at Sacramento State on Nov. 18, 2014. It marked the eighth time since 2007-08 that UC Davis has finished with 50-or-more rebounds, but a far cry from the school's all-time single-game mark of 71 rebounds set at Cal State Los Angeles on Dec. 2, 1977.

YOU GET A BASKET! YOU GET A BASKET!: The Aggies were in a giving mood at UC Irvine on Jan. 5, dishing out a season-high 27 assists on their 35 made baskets -- the highest single-game total since UC Davis put up 29 assists against Saint Mary's on Dec. 17, 2007. The distribution fell just shy of the all-time school record of 30, set against Quincy University on Nov. 19, 1993, while the UCI game marked the sixth time that the Aggies have topped 20 assists this season, just two shy of last season's total.