NEXT GAMES…
UC Davis (11-6, 3-1 Big West) at CSUN (9-9, 3-1 Big West)
Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 | 7:00 p.m. PT | The Matadome | Northridge, Calif.
RADIO: KDVS 90.3 FM (PxP: Greg Wong)
TV: ESPN3
UC Davis (11-6, 3-1 Big West) at Cal State Fullerton (10-6, 2-1 Big West)
Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019 | 2:00 p.m. PT | Titan Gym | Fullerton, Calif.
RADIO: KDVS 90.3 FM (PxP: Greg Wong)
TV: None
OPENING TIP: Winners in eight of its last nine contests, the UC Davis women's basketball team returns to the road this week, heading to Southern California for a pair of Big West Conference contests. First up, a rematch of last year's conference tournament championship game and a battle of first-place teams as the Aggies head to Northridge to take on CSUN on Thursday (Jan. 24) at 7 p.m., in a game streamed live on ESPN3. Two days later, UC Davis heads to Orange County for a quick rematch with Cal State Fullerton, battling the Titans for the second time in a week on Saturday (Jan. 26) at 2 p.m.
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" women's basketball (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 @UCDavisWBB.
IN THE POLLS: Neither UC Davis, CSUN, nor Cal State Fullerton, are ranked nationally entering the week.
NOT ONE. NOT TWO. NOT THREE.: For the second time in three weeks, and the fourth time overall in the 2018-19 campaign, UC Davis senior biomedical engineering major
Morgan Bertsch has laid claim to the Big West Conference's Player of the Week award after helping the Aggies to a pair of dominant victories over Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine last week. The four weekly awards are the most by any player this season, breaking a tie with the Anteaters' Jordan Sanders, and marks the seventh career honor for the Santa Rosa, Calif., native — tied for ninth in the history of the league. Read the complete release here:
https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2019/1/21/womens-basketball-bertsch-claims-fourth-big-west-weekly-honor.aspx.
MORE HONORS: Bertsch also added Big West player of the week laurels from College Sports Madness, part of the USA Today media group, for a fifth time this season.
ABOUT THE MATADORS: CSUN enters the week with a 9-9 overall record and a 3-1 mark in Big West play after defeating both Hawai'i (49-29) and UC Riverside (69-56) last week... The Matadors posted back-to-back wins for only the second time this season with the two victories, improving to 6-2 at home with the win over the Highlanders... Reigning Big West player of the year Channon Fluker is averaging 14.9 ppg and 10.9 rpg to pace CSUN in both categories, shooting 47 percent from the floor... Senior guard Serafina Maulupe is averaging 8.7 ppg and is the team's leading three-point threat with 35 makes from beyond the arc.
ABOUT THE TITANS: Cal State Fullerton enters the week with a 10-6 overall record and 2-1 mark in Big West play, following up its loss to UC Davis with a 78-64 win over Cal Poly... The Titans travel to UC Santa Barbara on Thursday before playing host to Fullerton... Sophomore guard Raina Perez leads a quartet of Titans in double figures at 13.9 ppg, shooting 43 percent from the floor... Daeja Smith (13.5 ppg), Amiee Book (11.7 ppg), Jade Vega (11.4 ppg), join her in double figures... Smith leads the team with 9.5 rpg, while Perez averages 5.4 apg.
SERIES NOTES: UC Davis leads the all-time series with CSUN by a 24-16 count dating back to 1980... The Aggies have won eight of the last 11 meetings, but the Matadors took two of three from UC Davis last season -- including the Big West Tournament championship game... The Aggies are 10-7 on the road against CSUN, winning four of the last five after dropping a, 75-71, decision at The Matadome during the regular season last year... UC Davis leads the all-time series with Cal State Fullerton by an 19-10 count dating back to the 2004-05 season... The Aggies have won the last nine meetings with the Titans dating back to a 65-62 loss at The Pavilion on Feb. 13, 2014... UC Davis is 11-3 against Fullerton on the road, having won the last eight trips to Titan Gym dating back to a 68-57 loss in 2010.
FREE (THROWS) FALLING: UC Davis set a program Division I single-game record with its 16-for-16 performance at the line against UC Irvine on Jan. 19, eclipsing the previous mark of 13-for-13 against Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 17, 2008, and falling just one shy of the all-time record of 17-for-17 against Whitworth back on Dec. 3, 1993. Of those 16 makes against the Anteaters, senior
Morgan Bertsch finished with a career-best 11-for-11 performance at the line, breaking the previous school record of 10-for-10 held by four former UC Davis greats: Ellen Porshneva (2003 at Chico State), Jennifer Goodwin (1994 at Sacramento State), Ashley Stevens (1992 at Grand Canyon), and Lisa Jo Kellogg (1989 at UC Riverside).
WIRE-TO-WIRE: The Aggies have not trailed in each of their last two games (and have been tied for only 75 seconds of that stretch), marking the sixth and seventh times that UC Davis has led wire-to-wire this season. That number is tied for the most in the program's Division I history (each of the last three years and the 2009-10 season) as the Aggies have won five of those seven contests by 20 points or more.
WHAT'S A FEW MORE FEET?: The Aggies shot 44 percent from beyond the arc in their win over UC Irvine, draining 10 shots from three-point range to reach double figures in that category for the fifth time this season. With the exception of its game against Montana, that has usually boded well for UC Davis, which has shot better than 40 percent from long distance in the other four contests.
BLOCK YOU VERY MUCH: UC Davis finished with seven blocks in each of its two contests last week and has showcased some tough interior defense since the start of Big West play, averaging 5.25 blocks per game through the first four contests of the league season. The seven swats set and tied a season high and are the most since the Aggies blocked nine against Cal Poly on Feb. 7, 2018.
LIGHTS OUT: The UC Davis offense has shot better than 40 percent from the field in each of its last nine games dating back to a loss at Montana on Dec. 2, including topping the 50 percent plateau three times against Sacramento State (.545), Dominican (.540), and UC Irvine (.529), en route to an 8-1 mark in those nine contests.
IN THE MARGINS: Eight of the team's 11 wins this season have come via double-digit margins (including five of those by 20 points or more), while four of the team's six defeats have come by seven points or fewer.
SATURDAY NIGHT'S ALRIGHT FOR WINNING: The Aggies have played more games on Saturday than any other day this season and that has proved to be a good thing, improving to 5-1 on that day of the week following its win over UC Irvine.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A POINT MAKES: UC Davis is 11-2 this season when it scores 60-or-more points, but is 0-4 when scoring 59 points or fewer.
2K-19: Thanks to a pair of free throws with 4:32 remaining in the Aggies' contest at UC Riverside on Jan. 5, Bertsch became the first student-athlete since the Highlanders' Brittany Crain in 2016 to reach (and surpass) 2,000 points in a career, finishing with a game-high 31 points in front of an ESPN3 audience. Standing seventh on the league's all-time scoring list, the Santa Rosa, Calif., native needs 57 more points to pass Idaho's Alli Nieman (1996-00), who is sixth on the chart with 2,140 points.
MORGAN ON A ROLL: Hold the mayo. Following her 29 points against UC Irvine, Bertsch has now scored in double figures in her last 52 consecutive contests dating back to last season -- and 102 of 117 games overall in her career. The high-scoring Santa Rosa, Calif., native has not been held to single digits since March 23, 2017, in a WNIT "Sweet 16" match-up against Washington State (six points), and has been held without a point in a game only once in her career – at Colorado State on March 19, 2017, in the second round of the WNIT.
STAYING ACTIVE: With her 2,084 career points, Bertsch ranks sixth among active players in the NCAA in that category (as of Jan. 21) while also standing fourth in career field goals (842).
I'LL TAKE MORGAN FOR 20: With her 25 points against the Titans and 29 points more against the Anteaters, Bertsch posted her 11th and 12th games with at least 20 points this season and the 49th and 50th such performances of her career (extending her school record). Having reached double figures in 102 of her 117 career contests, that means she is pretty much assured to hit the 20-point plateau every other time she takes the court.
MAKING HER POINT: Currently leading the Aggies with the nation's fourth-highest point total (416), Bertsch is on track to pace UC Davis in scoring for a fourth time -- something only one other player has done in the program's history, joining former school scoring champ Carol Rische, who accomplished the feat from 1979-83.
MISS EFFICIENT: One of the most efficient players in the Big West -- if not the nation -- Bertsch enters the week having scored nearly a point per minute played this season with 416 points in 472 minutes. The Santa Rosa, Calif., native has scored more points than minutes played seven times this season: Washington State (34 points-31 minutes), Sacramento State (40-22), Seattle (28-25), Dominican (22-17), UC Riverside (31-29), Cal State Fullerton (25-23), and UC Irvine (29-27).
BERTSCH ON THE BOARDS: The senior is rapidly closing in on another top 10 list, needing just 12 more rebounds to become the fifth player to reach the 600-rebound plateau along with Alyson Doherty (708),
Celia Marfone (682),
Pele Gianotti (616), and Paige Mintun (606), and 28 more to break into the all-time top 10, matching Gianotti's career total. Bertsch is only the fifth UC Davis player in the program's Division I history to score 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds in a career, joining Doherty, Gianotti, Mintun, and Sydnee Fipps.
SENIOR MOMENT: Already the highest scoring sophomore (520 points) and junior (702 points) in the history of the program, Bertsch is making a big push to become the highest-scoring senior in the history of the school, needing just 184 more points to pass Staci Stevens' 600 points during the 1987-88 campaign. Carol Rische, whom Bertsch passed to become the all-time leading scorer in women's basketball history, is the highest-scoring freshman in the program, scoring 459 points in 1979-80.
NEXT STOP? BIG WEST TOP 10: Kourtney Eaton enters this week's contests just nine helpers shy of 500 for her career and is on the verge of breaking into one of the most selective clubs in Big West history. The senior psychology major needs only 23 more to pass Long Beach State's Penny Toler (1987-89) for 10th place on the league's career assist list, which would make her only the third player in conference history to break into the top 10 since the 1999-00 season, joining the 49ers' Reta Sula (1997-01) -- who ranks ninth with 519 assists -- and CSUN's Ashlee Guay (2011-15) -- who is seventh with 541 assists.
SHE'S A HELPER: No one player to ever wear a UC Davis basketball uniform has tallied more assists than senior psychology major
Kourtney Eaton, who passed former Aggie great Angelo Rivers (a four-year letter winner for the men's team from 1982-86) with her 468th career assist on
Morgan Bertsch's game-winner against Saint Mary's back on Dec. 17. Eaton, who has led the team in the category in each of the last two seasons, currently ranks 12th in assists among active NCAA players as of Jan. 20 with 491.
WAIT... SHE SCORES TOO?: Kourtney Eaton has been doing a little bit of everything as of late. Aside from averaging 5.33 assists per game over her last six contests, the Longview, Wash., native has scored in double figures three times during that span, netting 48 points and averaging 8.0 points per game in that stretch -- including a career-high tying 15 points against San Francisco and back-to-back double-digit efforts against Cal State Fullerton (11) and UC Irvine (10). Compare that to the start of her season that saw her score just 49 points and average just 4.9 ppg over the first 10 games.
QUITE THE DISH: Kourtney Eaton's seven assists against UC Irvine marked her 21st game with at least that many in a contest during her career -- her sixth such game this season and just one shy of her season high of eight at Washington State.
TAKING MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS: The program's all-time scoring leader needs someone to get her ball, and who better than the program's all-time assists queen. Of Kourtney's record-setting 490 career assists, 137 of those (or just under 28 percent) have led to points by Bertsch, including a high of 49 such passes (or nearly one-third) out of 154 assists as juniors last season, and 31 assists together through 16 games together thus far this season.
SPARK OFF THE BENCH: Junior communication major
Nina Bessolo has done a great deal of damage when she has come off the bench in seven games for the Aggies this season, averaging a team-best 10.7 ppg and shooting 45 percent from the field in those contests, while also pacing the team with 4.7 rpg in just under 18 minutes per contest. As a starter in 10 contests, Bessolo has also been solid, averaging 8.3 ppg and 3.6 rpg in 22 minutes per game.
WORKING BEYOND THE ARC: UC Davis has made a three-pointer in 481 consecutive games dating back to Feb. 15, 2003, at Cal State San Bernardino. Since then, UC Davis has hit .347 from beyond the arc (3,264-for-9,418).
START ME UP: Of her 117 career appearances in an Aggie uniform, Bertsch has missed only six starts -- all coming during her freshman year -- and enters the week having started the team's last 90 consecutive contests dating back to the "Senior Day" game against CSUN in 2015-16. The Santa Rosa, Calif., native is one of only five players in the program's Division I history to start more than 100 games, joining Kasey Riecks (120), Alyson Doherty (113),
Celia Marfone (109), and Hana Asano (102).
IF SHE KEEPS THIS UP...: Sophomore cell biology major
Cierra Hall has been one of the top glass cleaners in the Big West, entering the week ranked No. 8 in the Big West at 6.4 rpg and has 108 rebounds overall on the season. The Cypress, Calif., native needs only 92 more boards this year (with at least 13 games remaining) to reach 200 for the season -- which would make her only the third player in the program's Division I history to grab at least 200 rebounds in a single year, joining
Celia Marfone, who did it twice in 2015 (a Division I program record 208) and 2016 (202), and Alyson Doherty, who finished with 200 rebounds in 2016.
40-SOMETHING: Bertsch is one of only 13 players in the NCAA (as of Jan. 7) to have scored 40 points in a game this season joining Lamar's Moe Kinard (58), Northern Illinois' Mikayla Voigt (52), Louisiana Tech's Kierra Anthony (50), Pepperdine's Yasmine Robinson-Bacote (47), Iowa's Megan Gustafson (44), Kennesaw State Kamiyah Street (41), Idaho's Mikayla Ferenz (40), and North Texas' Terriell Bradley (40).
ABOUT UC DAVIS
Providing a small-town community feel while providing a world-class academic experience, UC Davis is home to more than 37,000 students and centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley. The No. 5-ranked public university in the nation according to the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education, and among the top 10 public universities nationwide according to U.S. News and World Report, UC Davis offers nearly 100 graduate programs and more than 100 academic majors across four colleges and six professional schools, ranking among the world and nation's best in numerous disciplines, including veterinary science, agriculture, and plant and animal programs.
AGGIE EVO
Launched in 2017-18, the Aggie EVO System is UC Davis Athletics' investment in the primary mission of preparing student-athletes for a successful "launch" after graduation. Thanks to a collaboration of alumni, university resources, corporate partners, coaches and Student-Athlete Outcomes staff, all Aggies are guided over four years to acquire the skills, knowledge, opportunities and tools to better know and navigate the "World of Work" after graduating from UC Davis. Follow the Aggie EVO system on Twitter and Instagram at @AggieEVO.
