Teams: UC Davis at Southern Utah
Records: Aggies, 1-1; Dons, 1-2
Where: The Pavilion
When: Today at 7 p.m.
Who to watch: Redshirt freshman Lisa Peterson has wasted little time in making an impact for UC Davis.
A native of Citrus Heights, Calif., Peterson leads the team in scoring (12.0 points per game) and field goal percentage (.643 percent) in an average of 19.5 minutes per game.
Did you know? UC Davis is outscoring its opponents 61-48 while shooting .431 percent in the first half.
The second sessions, however, haven’t been as kind to the Aggies.
Opponents hold a 60-53 advantage over UC Davis in second halves, where the team has been limited to .340 percent shooting.
Preview: When UC Davis head coach Sandy Simpson was ejected with 3:36 to play on Friday at Denver, the Aggies comeback hopes went out the door with him.
The host Pioneers went on a 15-1 run in the final 3:29 to hand UC Davis a 64-50 defeat at Hamilton Gymnasium.
“Every once in a while you disagree with the way the game was officiated,“ Simpson said, whose ejection was just his second in 31 years of coaching. “There were situations where they were allowing quite a bit of physical play. I told them to look for that and the next time around they didn’t call it.“
Peterson led the way for UC Davis, netting 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting. Junior wing Haylee Donaghe chipped in with nine of her own and added four rebounds and two steals.
The Aggies will have their coach back tonight as they play host to San Francisco in their home opener at the Pavilion.
The Dons are coming off an 80-70 road loss to Eastern Washington. Junior guard Danesha Wright scored a game-high 23 points in the defeat.
– Adam Loberstein