DAVIS, Calif. — A 21-2 run in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter gave UC Davis women's basketball a victory over the Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine in the Aggies' Big West opener on Thursday, Dec. 4.
Score: UC Davis 68, Hawai'i 63
Location: Davis, Calif. (University Credit Union Center)
Records: UC Davis 7-2 (1-0), Hawai'i 4-4 (0-1)
OPENING TIP
- Tonight's 14 point comeback was the largest for the Aggies since their matchup with Idaho last December in Moscow, a game where the team was also down by as much as 14.
- Megan Norris was the on court leader once again, scoring a season-high 26 points while pulling down 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season.
- Norris' 26 points also puts her over 1,000 points in her Aggie career, becoming just the 22nd player in program history to achieve that mark.
- Ryann Bennett and Nya Epps were close behind Norris in scoring with 16 and 12 points respectively. Eight of Epps' 12 all came in the final five minutes of the fourth.
- Coming off the bench, Victoria Baker came in clutch on defense, swiping four steals.
- All 68 points for the Aggies came from the starting five of Norris, Bennett, Epps, Tegan Young, and Avery Sussex.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After seeing Hawai'i score the first three of the night, Bennett broke the seal with a three ball.
- The Aggie scoring continued with a five point burst from Norris through the first five minutes of the game, with her layup giving the home team a 12-10 advantage.
- Scoring three of the last four field goals of the quarter, Bennett ended with nine to give her team a 20-15 lead after one.
- Davis countered an 18-point burst in the second quarter from Hawai'i with threes from Norris and Sussex, being down 28-30 halfway through the period.
- After seeing the Rainbow Wahine take a three with two minutes remaining, the Aggie defense held strong. A last second layup from Norris kept the deficit at two, 31-33, at the half.
- Coming out of the locker room, Sussex gave her team the lead back with a trey.
- But a 13-2 run from the road team built them a 10 point lead halfway through the period.
- Looking to come back into the contest, the Davis defense locked in once again, keeping their opponents out of the hoop in the last 4:33 of the quarter, sinking six consecutive free throws to enter the final period down 42-46.
- Down 50-63 with four and a half minutes remaining in the game, Epps scooped in a layup to spark the offense.
- After four straight points from Bennett and a tough lay-in for Young, Epps electrified the crowd with a three ball to cut the Hawai'i lead to only two.
- On the next possession, she cashed in from downtown again, giving the Aggies the lead with 71 seconds remaining.
- From there, a layup and a pair of free throws wrapped up the scoring, with the defense staying strong to stop the Rainbow Wahine from scoring and giving Davis a 68-63 victory.
UP NEXT: UC Davis now returns to the rest of their non-conference schedule when they take on Gonzaga University up in Spokane on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 6:00 p.m. PT. The game is streamed live on ESPN+ and KDVS 90.3.
ABOUT UC DAVIS ATHLETICS:
UC Davis, the No. 2 ranked public university by the Wall Street Journal, is home to 40,000 undergraduate students and 12,000 employees. Ranked #1 in Agriculture and Forestry as well as #1 in Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis is located in a true California college town nestled between world-class destinations such as the San Francisco Bay Area, Napa Valley and Lake Tahoe. Over 650 Aggie student-athletes compete in 25 Division I varsity sports, with 16 sports transitioning to the Mountain West Conference beginning in 2026–27.
For more information, visit
https://ucdavisaggies.com/.
