DAVIS, Calif. — Clinching a semifinal berth for the seventh consecutive season, the top-seeded UC Davis women's basketball team takes on No. 5-seeded Hawai'i in the first semifinal game of the 2021 Air Force Reserve Big West Women's Basketball Championships, presented by The Hawaiian Islands, on Friday (March 12) at Noon at Michelob Ultra Arena at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev.
GAME 14
WHAT: No. 5 Hawai'i (9-7, 7-6 Big West) vs. No. 1 UC Davis (11-2, 9-1 Big West)
WHEN: Friday, March 12, 2021
TIME: Noon PT
WHERE: Las Vegas, Nev.
ARENA: Michelob Ultra Arena at the Mandalay Bay Hotel
TV: ESPN3 (PXP: Trent Rush, ANALYSIS: Dave Miller, SIDELINE: Courtney Sweet)
RADIO: KDVS 90.3 FM (PXP: Greg Wong)
VIDEO STREAMING: ESPN3.com
AUDIO STREAMING: KDVS.org or
TuneIn.com (search for KDVS)
LIVE STATS: BigWest.org
COMPLETE GAME NOTES: UC Davis PDF |
Hawai'i WBB |
Big West WBB
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: Big West.org
ABOUT THE COACHES…
UC DAVIS: Jennifer Gross is in her 10th season (17th overall) at UC Davis with a record of 184-112 (.622).
HAWAI'I: Laura Beeman is in her 24th season overall as a head coach with a record of 532-232 (.696), and in her ninth season at Hawai'i with a record of 142-122 (.538).
IN THE RANKINGS…
Despite claiming their fifth consecutive Big West title, the Aggies ranked No. 15 in the latest COLLEGE INSIDER mid-major poll released on March 9, moving down four spots from No. 11 the week prior… The No. 11 ranking in the mid-major poll on March 2 is the highest of the season and the highest for the program since the Aggies were ranked No. 8 in the Feb. 27, 2018 poll… UC Davis has been among the top 20 every week this season, extending its run to 16 consecutive weeks dating back to the final 2019-20 poll… The Aggies are ranked No. 75 in the NCAA's NET rankings as of March 8 -- the best of any Big West school (Long Beach State is second at No. 151).
SERIES NOTES…
UC Davis holds a 13-10 lead in the all-time series with Hawai'i after the two teams split a pair of games in Honolulu to close out the regular season… The Rainbow Wahine won the opener, 70-60, before the Aggies took home the second game, 54-46, to clinch the Big West regular season title… UC Davis and Hawai'i have met in the Big West Tournament twice, but Friday's game will be the first time the teams will NOT meet in the championship game: the Rainbow Wahine defeated the Aggies in the 2016 title game, while UC Davis returned the favor with a 58-50 win in the 2019 championship tilt.
ABOUT THE RAINBOW WAHINE…
No. 5-seeded Hawai'i enters Friday's semifinal with a 9-7 record after a commanding 81-67 victory over No. 4-seeded — and league newcomer — CSU Bakersfield in Wednesday's second quarterfinal match-up… Four Rainbow Wahine finished in double figures against the Roadrunners: Jadynn Alexander (17), Olivia Davies (16), Daejah Phillips (15), and Kelsie Imai (10)… Amy Atwell leads the team in scoring at 12.4 ppg, but was held to just nine points on 1-of-11 shooting, while hitting seven free throws against CSU Bakersfield… Alexander is also averaging double figures at 10.4 ppg, while Kasey Neubert is averaging a team-best 8.2 rebounds per game to go with 9.0 ppg.
AFTER THE OPENING ROUND…
• UC Davis is coming off a 61-54 victory over No. 9-seeded Cal State Fullerton in Wednesday's quarterfinal round, improving to 14-10 all-time in the Big West Tournament.
• The Aggies and Hawai'i (which defeated CSU Bakersfield in the quarterfinals) meet for the third time in a week after the two split a pair of games in Honolulu to close out the regular season.
• Friday marks only the third all-time meeting between UC Davis and Hawai'i in the Big West Tournament, but the first time NOT in the championship game -- The Rainbow Wahine won in the 2016 final, with the Aggies returning the favor in 2019.
• With the win over Fullerton, UC Davis has clinched a Big West Tournament semifinal berth 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 are 6-2 in the tournament semifinal round overall, advancing to the championship game three times in the last four attempts.
• Senior
Cierra Hall posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds against the Titans, her fourth 20-point game of the year and third double-double of the season.
• Hall has reached double figures in her last four games, averaging 15.8 ppg in that span.
• Hall finished 8-of-10 from the line against the Titans, marking the fourth time in her last six games with double-digit free throw attempts and shooting 37-for-48 (.771) in that stretch.
•
Sage Stobbart finished with three more blocks against Cal State Fullerton, breaking a tie with current associate head coach
Des Abeyta for seventh with 90 and standing six shy of Staci Stevens (1985-88) for sixth place.
• Stobbart's 35 blocks are now just four shy of her 29-game total for all of last year, which ranked 10th on the single-season chart.
• UC Davis limited Cal State Fullerton to just 31 percent for the game -- the sixth time in the last seven games that the defense has held an opponent to under 32 percent from the floor for the game, and under 30 percent from beyond the arc in seven of its last eight games.
• The 14 makes from the line in the fourth quarter against Fullerton were the most in any quarter this season -- besting the previous high of four set numerous times -- with eight of those off the fingers of Hall, which is also a single-quarter high by an Aggie this year.
AGGIE AWARDS…
• Senior CIERRA HALL becomes the second Aggie in the last three seasons to be named the Big West Conference Player of the Year, joining former teammate
Morgan Bertsch (2019).
• After winning the league's defensive player of the year award as a junior in 2020, Hall becomes only the third player to win both awards in a career in league history, joining CSUN's Channon Fluker and UC Riverside's Kemie Nkele.
• Junior SAGE STOBBART gave UC Davis the league's defensive player of the year for the second straight season, joining Hall and Haylee Donaghe (2010) as Aggie winners of the award.
• Hall and Stobbart were named to the All-Big West First Team -- the third time in the history of the program that UC Davis has landed a pair on the first team in the same season:
Morgan Bertsch and Pele Gianotti were on the first team in 2017, and Bertsch and
Kourtney Eaton accomplished the feat in 2019.
• Stobbart also earned the final conference player of the week award of the regular season on March 8, joining Hall (who won the award twice) as weekly honorees this season.
• Senior MACKENZIE TRPCIC picked up her first All-Big West honor after being named to the honorable mention team. She was a third-team All-America East selection as a sophomore at UAlbany before transferring to UC Davis.
• Junior KAYLA KONRAD joined Stobbart on the league's all-defensive team, becoming the third and fourth UC Davis players named to that list along with Bertsch (2019) and Hall (2020).
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.
