Teams: UC Davis at Hawai’i; at Cal State Northridge
Records: Aggies 10-12 (5-6); Rainbow Wahine 11-11 (7-4); Matadors 12-11 (6-5)
Where: Stan Sheriff Center — Honolulu, Hawaii; The Matadome — Northridge, Calif.
When: Thursday at 9 p.m.; Saturday at 2 p.m.
Who to watch: The last time the Aggies played Hawai’i, they were out-rebounded by a 48-31 count.
Freshman Alyson Doherty has provided some of the much-needed height for the Aggies on the boards, grabbing 63 defensive and 39 offensive rebounds to bring her season total to a team-leading 102.
Doherty’s 4.9 rebounds per game leads the team, who will need all the height they can get to be competitive in those second-chance opportunities.
Did you know: It will be a grueling weekend for UC Davis, who will be traveling to two very different playing environments this weekend.
The Stan Sheriff Center can house 10,300 fans and can serve as a multi-purpose arena for other events such as concerts or other competitions or conferences.
On the other hand, the Matadome has less than 2,000 seats, and doesn’t actually have a dome for a roof as its name would indicate. The stadium also serves its dual role as a classroom for kinesiology courses at Cal State Northridge.
Preview: Though this season has seemed like one step forward, one step back every weekend, the Aggies haven’t lost their spirit.
The UC Davis women’s basketball team stands in seventh place in the Big West conference with a 5-6 league record. The season is coming to a close, seeing that there are seven games left to play including this weekend’s series.
Yet, seven games can do a lot to shake up the conference standings. The Aggies recently displayed they can compete with any team in conference by collecting an impressive win over Cal Poly, the second-place team in the Big West.
Looking forward, UC Davis will have a very taxing road trip this weekend. They first travel to Hawaii to play the Rainbow Wahine on Thursday night. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m., which is 9 p.m. on West Coast time.
The Aggies dropped a 71-63 decision to Hawai’i the last time the Rainbow Wahine came to Davis. Hawaii is in a three-way tie with Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara for second place in the conference with a 7-4 record.
Shortly after the game in Hawaii, UC Davis will travel back to the mainland for a matchup against Cal State Northridge. The Aggies will be forced to recover from Thursday’s game and adjust back to the time difference all before playing a crucial game against the Matadors.
CSU Northridge is 6-5 in the Big West and holds a 12-11 overall record. Still, the Aggies took them down by a 61-46 beating when the Matadors came over to the Pavilion back in mid-January.
Depending on how games go this weekend, wins over both teams this weekend could propel UC Davis into as high as second place in the conference, a substantial jump from their seventh-place standing.
The middle six teams in the Big West are all locked in a tight battle, adding pressure to the tight conference race where every game matters.
— Matthew Yuen
