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The Aggie women have gone on a streak that should come as no surprise to fans of Big West basketball.

Last week, this UC Davis basketball team looked like world-beaters: second-place CSUN fell, 60-49 and Cal State Fullerton went down hard, 75-39. With Morgan Bertsch wearing the mantle of these victories, the Aggies seized their seemingly rightful stop at the pinnacle of the conference.

Recall, please, that on Jan. 15, the Aggies were 9-6. They split their first two games of the Big West season. Yet, the weekly CollegeInsider.com mid-major poll gave UCD props —10 points in "others receiving votes."

Fair enough. Apparently the 25 coaches who cast ballots remembered that UC Davis won back-to-back regular-season league titles.

Then, two weeks ago after dismantling Cal State Fullerton the first time, 75-51, and then-No. 15 UC Irvine, 80-57, the Aggies received zero points in the Jan. 22 canvas. The Anteaters, though, were still ranked, this time at No. 20.

And what about Tuesday's CollegeInsider.com poll (Jan. 29)? Just a head-scratcher…

UCD (13-6, 5-1 in BWC) was back in "others receiving votes." 

If Aggie fans thought the UCD distaff was disappointed back in November — when it had to split the Big Sky coaches and media preseason poll title predictions with CSUN — this latest snub is downright mystifying.

But fans think one way.

Aggie coach Jennifer Gross and her women clearly are looking in another direction.

"We're less worried about (polls and predictions)," says Gross, a Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Famer. "We have high goals that we've set for ourselves. And we know that to reach those goals, it takes getting better all the time. Right now I feel like we're playing pretty well …"

No kidding.

UC Davis won 10 of its last 11. In smoking its last four opponents, the average score shakes out at 70-49. From the floor, the Aggies have shot over 50 percent twice. They've made 33 treys along the way.

Bertsch, who is the NCAA's No. 4 scorer at 23.8 points a game, averaged 22.5 in the recent four-game span — two of those games coming against BWC two-time Player of the Year Channon Fluker (CSUN) and Cal State Fullerton's all-league center Daeja Smith.

Contributions consistently have come from versatile junior Sophia Song, twin guards Karley and Kourtney Eaton, wing Nina Bessolo, shooting star Cierra McKeown and rebounding maven Cierra Hall. Redshirt freshmen Kayla Konrad and Sage Stobbart are getting their bearings and playing bigger and bigger roles.

Gross credited the recent defensive play of Stobbart for helping hold Fluker to 16 points (six coming in garbage time). Together with Bertsch, the Canadian center melds nicely to provide an effective no-fly zone inside.

Before a Saturday rematch at The Pavilion with CSUN, Davis hosts struggling Long Beach State (5-13, 2-3). Special game time is 6 p.m. Thursday.

The 49ers sport three players — Shanaijah Davison (13.3 ppg), Justina King (10.4) and Naomi Hunt (10.3) — scoring in double digits. But the tale o' the tape suggests these visitors will be stretched to the limit. Long Beach is shooting 35.9 percent to Davis' 43.9 percent and is being out-rebounded (minus-13 a game) to the Aggies' plus-1.8.

Despite being pleased with their new-found status at the front of the pack, Gross likes what the future might hold, too.

"We still have such a high ceiling," the eighth-year head coach told The Davis Enterprise. "This team is pretty committed to getting better. It's been really fun to see our growth, especially on the defensive end.

"I'm really proud of our progress and excited about where we can still go."


Notes: Bertsch has scored in double digits in 54 straight games. …Marina Ewodo of UC Riverside was named Big West Player of the Week, thanks to her 25-point performance in the Highlanders' 73-59 victory versus The Beach. It marked the 6-foot-2 wing's career high. She played all 40 minutes as 12 of her points came in the fourth quarter … Iowa's Megan Gustafson (26.4) is the nation's leading scorer. Arizona's Aari McDonald (25.2) is second with Buffalo's Cierra Dillard next at 25.1. Then comes Bertsch. …CSUN (10-10, 3-2) is coming off a Saturday 51-37 victory over Long Beach. Fluker's 17 points and 11 rebounds mirrored her 16/11 versus Davis on Thursday.

— Bruce Gallaudet is the former sports and managing editor of The Davis Enterprise and can be reached at bgallaudet41@gmail.com or 530-320-4456.