Box Score Postgame Press Conference (Coach Gross and C. Hall)
LAS VEGAS — Senior forward
Cierra Hall collected her third double-double of the season, finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds to help carry top-seeded UC Davis to a 61-54 victory over No. 9 Cal State Fullerton in the opening quarterfinal match-up of the 2021 Air Force Reserve Big West Women's Basketball Championships, presented by The Hawaiian Islands, on Wednesday morning at Michelob Ultra Arena at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.
The Aggies improved to 11-2 with the win and advance to Friday's semifinal round where they will take on either No. 4 CSU Bakersfield or No. 5 Hawai'i at Noon PT. Led by 25 points and 16 rebounds from Joy Krupa, the Titans ended their season at 4-18 overall.
With the win, UC Davis has now clinched a berth in the Big West tournament semifinals for the seventh consecutive season and the 10th time in 14 seasons overall (2008, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021). The Aggies have won six of their previous seven semifinal games and have posted a 6-2 record in the semifinal round overall, advancing to the championship games three times in the previous four attempts.
Voted the Big West Player of the Year earlier in the week, Hall's 20 points marked her fourth 20-point performance of the season and her third double-double of the year, finishing 5-for-9 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers and 8-of-10 from the line in 37 minutes. Her 10 rebounds were the most since she finished with 10 in the series opener with UC San Diego at the end of January.
Hall finished as the lone UC Davis player in double figures as junior
Kayla Konrad and sophomore
Evanne Turner finished with nine apiece. Konrad added five rebounds and four assists, while junior
Sage Stobbart scored eight points, grabbed six rebounds, and blocked three more shots — the latter moving her into sole possession of seventh place on the school's all-time list with 90, standing just six more swats shy of Staci Stevens for sixth.
The Aggies trailed for a grand total of 65 seconds in the contest after Fullerton scored the opening basket, eventually leading by as many as 16 points and holding a 32-16 advantage at the break thanks, in large part, to a 13-0 run midway through the first quarter and a 7-0 burst at the end of the second. UC Davis' defense was stellar, limiting Fullerton to just 17 percent from the field for the half and 2-of-16 from beyond the arc.
However, the contest was far from over as the Titans continued to chip away and rallied to make it a two possession game in the fourth. Cal State Fullerton out-scored UC Davis, 18-9, in the third quarter, as the Aggies managed just three field goals and a pair of free throws in the period, using a 7-0 run of its own to bring the deficit back to single digits with 10 minutes to play.
The Titans were within five points on three occasions in the first half of the final period, eventually getting the gap down to just four points following a three-pointer by Kathryn Neff with 3:55 to play, but UC Davis kept Fullerton at bay, draining 9-of-12 from the free throw line to maintain its advantage to the final buzzer.
Overall, the Aggies hit 40 percent from the field and beyond the arc while holding the Titans to just 31 percent on 27 more shot attempts— the sixth time in the last seven games that the UC Davis defense had held an opponent to under 32 percent from the floor in a game.
ABOUT UC DAVIS
Over 700 student-athletes across 25 intercollegiate athletics teams, following the addition of equestrian and women's beach volleyball in 2018, represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation.
Centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe and the Napa Valley, UC Davis is known nationwide as a leader in Title IX gender equity and leadership, ranks annually in the top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility and offers an unrivaled student-athlete experience that features the ideal combination of elite academics, Division I athletics and personal growth.
UC Davis is uncommonly committed to preparing student-athletes for life after graduation with Aggie EVO — an innovative student-athlete outcomes program that helps young women and men develop passions, gain real-world experience, and enjoy a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school. Through Aggie EVO, Intercollegiate Athletics provides unmatched resources and a vast network of working professionals to ensure post-graduation success for its student-athletes.
