Bertsch and Aggies eager to make it to the Big Dance
The UC Davis women’s basketball team dominated opponents during the winter break, grabbing five wins before taking down its first Big West opponent, UC Riverside. The University of Hawai’i snapped the Aggies’ six-game winning streak on Saturday, however. With this loss, the Aggies and Rainbow Wahine are now 1-1 in Big West Play, and the Aggies hold a 9-6 record overall.
Throughout December matchups, the Aggies lost only once to the University of Montana in early December at the Lady Griz Classic. The Aggies pummeled Sacramento State, 109-60, behind a game in which senior forward Morgan Bertsch set a program single-game record by scoring 40 points.
The Aggies then cruised through the last of their non-conference schedule with games against Seattle University, University of San Francisco — in which sophomore forward Cierra Hall got her first double-double and junior forward Sophia Song scored 15 points to surpass her previous record of 13 — and Saint Mary’s. Bertsch launched a half-court shot with less than one second left to dash Saint Mary’s hopes of an overtime win. This led the Aggies to an easy win against Dominican and then a win against UC Riverside.
Bertsch has been shattering record after record in her last year with UC Davis women’s basketball. After etching her name into the UC Davis women’s basketball’s record books back in November against University of the Pacific, Bertsch realized the need to look at the bigger picture.
“I need to take time to think about how fun it’s been and how the past three years have gone and look forward to the future with this new team and the things we can accomplish,” Bertsch told The Aggie after becoming the women’s basketball’s all-time leading scorer.
She is leading the defending Big West champs into conference play with one goal in mind.
“Make it to the Big Dance in March,” Bertsch said. “It’s just something that I want so bad. That’s really what has been on the back of my mind.”
UC Davis will host the next two games against Cal State Fullerton on Thursday and a red hot UC Irvine on Saturday, a team that currently holds a 12-2 record and are undefeated so far in Big West play.
Written by: Bobby John — sports@theaggie.org
