OPENING TIP: The three-time defending Big West Conference champion UC Davis women's basketball team officially opens its 13th Division I campaign this week, tipping-off the 2019-20 season on the road for the second straight season on Friday night (Nov. 8) at 6 p.m. PT against Montana State at Worthington Arena in Bozeman, Mont.

THIS WEEK…
GAME 1: UC Davis (0-0) at Montana State (0-0)
WHEN: Friday, Nov. 8, 2019 at 6 p.m. PT
WHERE: Worthington Arena in Bozeman, Mont.
RADIO: KDVS 90.3 FM (PxP: Greg Wong)
TV: Pluto TV (Channel 253)
STREAMING VIDEO: Watch Big Sky
LIVE STATS: BobcatStats.com
NOTES: UC Davis | Montana State | Big West Conference
FOLLOW: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

BE A FOLLOWER: Fans can get an inside look at the UC Davis women's basketball program by following them on their many social media accounts. Like or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at @UCDavisWBB. In-game updates will also be available on the team's Twitter feed.

AGGIES GETTING VOTES IN MID-MAJOR POLL: UC Davis will open the 2019-20 season among those receiving votes in the preseason College Insider Mid-Major poll, released on Monday (Nov. 4). The Aggies, who opened last season ranked No. 19 in the nation in the website's preseason poll, received the second-highest point total among the "others" with 71, trailing only New Mexico State (77) to essentially rank 27th in the country. UC Davis' opponent to open the season, Montana State, is also among that group, picking up four votes, as are this year's opponents UC Irvine (26) and Saint Mary's (nine).

DEFENDING CHAMPS AT THE TOP OF PRESEASON BIG WEST POLLS: The Aggies were picked to repeat as conference champions for the fourth consecutive season by members of the media, while the coaches picked UC Davis to finish second according to a pair of preseason polls released on Oct. 23. Receiving eight first-place votes and 113 points overall, the Aggies stood atop the media poll, shading second-place UC Irvine (four first-place votes and 104 points) and third-place UC Riverside (one first-place vote, 94 points). The Anteaters were picked first in the coaches poll, receiving six of the nine first-place nods and 77 points to edge UC Davis, which finished with two first-place votes and 70 points.

PRESEASON LOVE FOR NINA: Senior American studies major Nina Bessolo was one of six players selected to the preseason All-Big West Team by the coaches, coming off a junior year that saw the Hayward, Calif., native earn All-Big West honorable mention honors. She averaged a career-high 9.0 ppg to rank second on the team, adding 3.9 rpg, shooting just over 40 percent from the field, and 35 percent from beyond the arc.

SO, HOW 'BOUT THOSE AGGIES?: Bessolo is one of three seniors for the Aggies in 2019-20, along with psychology major Sophia Song (5.7 ppg, .427 FG%) and communication major Katie Toole (2.2 ppg, .586 FG%), as UC Davis returns eight letter winners and a pair of starters off of last season's squad that finished 25-7 overall, a school-record 15-1 in the Big West, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the program's history. Three-time Big West Coach of the Year Jennifer Gross also returns junior cell biology major Cierra Hall, who led the Aggies in rebounding at 6.3 rpg, as well as sophomore center Sage Stobbart, who will anchor the Aggies' inside game after averaging 3.3 ppg and 4.2 rpg as a freshman in 2018-19.

LID LIFTERS: Friday's game at Montana State marks the second straight season that UC Davis will open on the road after the Aggies began the year at The Pavilion in six straight years. UC Davis is 25-20 all-time in season openers dating back to 1974-75, including a 7-6 mark in the road in that span, with the locations of some games unknown.

ABOUT THE BOBCATS: Led by 15th year head coach Tricia Binford, Montana State opened its 2019-20 campaign with an 80-57 victory over Northwest Nazarene in an exhibition on Monday night... Picked to finish first in the Big Sky by both the coaches and media, the Bobcats return five seniors, four starters, and seven letter winners overall, including preseason Big Sky MVP pick Fallyn Freije -- a transfer from North Dakota who sat out all of 2018-19, averaging 13.2 ppg and shooting .408 from the floor two years ago -- and preseason all-conference selection Oliana Squires, who averaged 11.4 ppg and shot .371 from the field last season... Montana State finished 16-15 overall and 11-9 in Big Sky play last year, falling to Portland State in the league tournament quarterfinals.

SERIES NOTES: Friday marks only the second meeting between UC Davis and Montana State, and the first since the Aggies posted a, 70-62, win at The Pavilion on Nov. 23, 2017... This week also marks UC Davis' second-ever trip to the state of Montana for basketball -- the first coming last season when the Aggies defeated Nevada before falling to host Montana at the Lady Griz Classic in Missoula.

CONFERENCE CALL: UC Davis is a combined 43-40 against current members of the Big Sky Conference, including a 17-17 record on the road. The Aggies were 2-2 against Big Sky opponents in 2018-19 -- and have won eight of their last 10 overall against the league -- posting wins over Sacramento State and Southern Utah, while falling to Montana and Portland State last season.

ALL SHE DOES IS WIN: Head Coach Jennifer Gross enters this season ranked fourth in the program's history in career coaching wins with 156, needing just eight more to match Pam Gill-Fisher (1975-79, 81-86, 87-88), who accumulated 164 wins during her 12 years at the helm. The UC Davis alumna has won nearly 62 percent of her games since taking over for the winningest coach in the program's history -- Sandy Simpson (251 victories) -- for the 2011-12 season.

ALL THEY DO IS WIN, TOO: Seniors Nina Bessolo and Sophia Song have only known winning, playing key roles as part of the Aggies' three consecutive Big West Conference titles, a Big West Tournament crown, two trips to the WNIT, and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019. With 78 wins over the last three years, the duo would match Head Coach Jennifer Gross' record for most wins (101) from 1993-97 if the Aggies were to win 23 games this season.

POSTSEASON PREPARED: UC Davis will face eight teams that reached the postseason a year ago in 2019-20, as well as seven opponents that ranked in the top 150 of the final RPI. NCAA participants Portland State (Nov. 30) and quarterfinalist Stanford (Dec. 28) join WNIT qualifiers Fresno State (Nov. 12), Saint Mary's (Nov. 19), Minnesota (Dec. 15), Pepperdine (Dec. 19), and league rival Hawai'i (Jan. 11 and Feb. 22), as well as WBI participant UC Riverside (Jan. 9 and Feb. 29). The Waves reached the third round of the WNIT, while the Golden Gophers and Gaels each gained the second round.

20-20-20 VISION: UC Davis goes in search of its fourth consecutive 20-win season in 2019-20 -- something that hasn't happened in the program's Division I history and a feat that would be the longest such run in the program's all-time history since a streak of six consecutive 20-win seasons from 1993-99, accumulating 149 victories against only 29 losses (.837) in that stretch. According to records that date back to the 1974-75 season, UC Davis has won 20-or-more games 17 times.

#PROTECTTHEPAV: Although it's a week away, the Aggies are probably looking forward to playing in front of the hometown faithful for the team's official home opener against Santa Clara on Nov. 16. UC Davis has won its last 12 consecutive games at The Pavilion and has posted a combined 38-4 record at home in the last three season's combined.

WHEN YOU'RE HERE, YOU'RE FAMILY: Head Coach Jennifer Gross has steadily built a winner at UC Davis during her time at the helm, thanks, in part, to a supporting cast of coaches that make up one of the longest-tenured staffs in the country. Entering its ninth season together, Gross, associate head coaches Joe Teramoto and Des Abeyta, and assistant coach Matt Klemin, make up the longest-tenured coaching staff in the country after Oklahoma welcomed a pair of new coaches into the fold for this season. The Aggies' staff is now one of only four in the country (Texas A&M, Tulane, and Iowa State, are the others) that have been together for at least eight seasons.

AGGIES PUTTING THE "W" IN BIG WEST: No Big West Conference school has won more games than UC Davis since the Aggies officially joined the league in 2007-08, posting 231 combined victories to date -- which is 41 more than the next-highest school (Cal Poly with 190) entering the 2019-20 campaign.

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: UC Davis faces a trio of first-time opponents this season: Boston University on Dec. 5, Minnesota on the road on Dec. 15, and local rival William Jessup on New Year's Day.

SUCH AN EXHIBITIONIST: With their wins over Stanislaus State (86-63) and Cal State East Bay (79-56), the Aggies have now won their last 18 consecutive exhibition contests dating back to a 43-41 loss to Sonoma State on Nov. 6, 2006. During their recent run, UC Davis has posted wins over the Melbourne Roos, Concordia (Ore.), Humboldt State (five times), Sonoma State (twice), Australian Showcase, San Francisco State, Redlands, Oregon Tech, Stanislaus State (twice), Academy of Art, and Cal State East Bay (twice).

ROOM AND BOARDS: Junior cell biology major Cierra Hall was a beast on the boards for the Aggies last season, grabbing 201 caroms for the year -- only the fourth player in the program's Division I history to do so in a single season along with Celia Marfone (208 in 2015 and 202 in 2016) and Alyson Doherty (200 in 2016).

SPEAKING OF REBOUNDS: Sophomores Kayla Konrad and Sage Stobbart did well to keep Stanislaus State off the boards in the Aggies' 86-63 victory, grabbing 13 and 10 rebounds, respectively en route to a 55-28 advantage on the boards. The 13 rebounds would have been a career high for Konrad, who set her mark with 11 against Dominican last year.

MILESTONE WATCH: Senior American studies major Nina Bessolo is the closest active Aggie to the 1,000 career point milestone entering her final season with 626 points, looking to become the 21st player in the history of the program to achieve the milestone after scoring a career-high 287 points en route to All-Big West honorable mention honors a season ago.

FIVE TOOLE PLAYER: Normally reserved for baseball players, senior guard Katie Toole showcased an array of "tools" in the Aggies two preseason contests. After averaging only 2.2 ppg in her first season at UC Davis last year, Toole hit 15-of-21 (.714) from the floor and 7-of-9 (.778) from the line in the Aggies' two wins, averaging 19.0 ppg and 5.5 rpg -- including a 25-point outburst in the win over Stanislaus State.

BESSOLO BOMBING AWAY: The senior from Hayward, Calif., who averaged 12.5 ppg and shot 42 percent from the floor in the two exhibitions, has drained 116 career three-pointers, ranking her ninth on the school's Division I career list, just 36 back of former teammate Kourtney Eaton. Her 56 trey's last season were tied with Kourtney Eaton for the team lead and were a career high for the senior, surpassing the 38 made during her sophomore season.

FINDING HER RANGE: Senior guard Sophia Song also had herself an impressive debut from beyond the arc as six of her eight made baskets in the Aggies' two exhibitions were from three-point range. Song, who averaged 12.5 ppg and hit 50 percent from the field during the preseason, drained 6-of-11 from long distance, just one year after hitting a career high 34 three-pointers as a junior -- two more than her previous two seasons combined.

NO RUST HERE: After sitting out all of 2018-19, junior Mackenzie Trpcic looked as if she hadn't missed a beat from her days at Albany, where she led the America East Conference and ranked No. 15 in the nation with 207 assists as a sophomore in 2017-18 (6.47 apg). Trpcic finished with 10 assists against only four turnovers in the wins over Stanislaus State and Cal State East Bay, including six helpers against the Warriors and no turnovers against the Pioneers.

SHADES OF GRAY: If the freshman keeps this up, opponents are going to be seeing red. Newcomer Campbell Gray eased into her Division I career with a pair of solid efforts in the Aggies' exhibition contests, hitting 8-of-10 (.800) from the floor and averaged 10.0 ppg to go along with 4.5 apg against Stanislaus State and Cal State East Bay, scoring 10 points in each game and dishing out six assists in the win over the Pioneers.

DENIED: After losing more than half of their scoring from a season ago, the Aggies may be relying on their defense a little more as the offense comes along. Not to worry as UC Davis has led the Big West Conference in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense in each of the last three years (and five times overall in the former since joining the league in 2007-08), holding opponents to just 57.0 ppg last season -- the lowest for a conference leader since UC Santa Barbara allowed 52.9 ppg in 2012-13.

AGGIES BY THE NUMBERS: UC Davis returns 43 percent (989 of 2,278) of its points, 58 percent (721 of 1,236) of its rebounds, 37 percent (185 of 504) of its assists, 45 percent of its field goals (362 of 811), 43 percent of its three-pointers (112 of 263), and 39 percent of its free throws (153 of 393), from a season ago. What does it all mean? We don't know, but numbers are fun.

TRANSFER ORDERS: Although she has to sit out this season due to NCAA transfer rules, junior Lena Svanholm becomes only the eighth player to transfer into the program from another Division I school in UC Davis' Division I history, following fellow transfers Katie Toole (Utah State) and Mackenzie Trpcic (Albany).

WE'RE GONNA NEED MORE FLAGS: Internationally known in the classroom and, now, on the basketball court. The now-eligible Mackenzie Trpcic (Hamilton, Ontario), Svanholm, and freshman Megan Jones (Ayr, Scotland), will eventually be the fourth, fifth, and sixth, international players to suit up for UC Davis in the program's Division I history, joining Idit Oryon (Jerusalem, Israel), Dani Nafekh (Oakville, Ontario), and Sage Stobbart (North Vancouver, British Columbia).

#AGGIESINTHEPROS: Morgan Bertsch has begun her professional career with Sparta&k Vidnoe in Russia, currently averaging 13.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.2 bpg, and shooting .591 from the field (including 5-for-11 from three-point range) through six games (as of Nov. 5) in the Russian League. In three EuroCup games, Bertsch is averaging 16.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, and shooting 61 percent from the field in three contests, to lead the team. Meanwhile, in Germany, Pele Gianotti is averaging a robust 18.3 ppg and shooting 58 percent in the country's top division through seven games with the BasCats USC Heidelberg.