Headline: Women’s basketball preview
Teams: UC Davis at UC Riverside
Records: Aggies, 5-7 (1-0); Highlanders, 5-9 (1-1)
Where: Student Recreation Center Gym – Riverside, Calif.
When: Tonight at 7 p.m.
Who to watch: After missing 10 games in a row due to injury, freshman Vicky Deely made her return worthwhile.
In her first game since Nov. 14, Deely scored 12 points, grabbed three rebounds and committed zero fouls in an efficient 19 minutes of play, fueling UC Davis’ 86-66 victory over Cal State Northridge in its Big West Conference opener.
Did you know? The last time these two teams matched up was on Mar. 14 in the semifinal round of the Big West Tournament in Anaheim, Calif. The Aggies won 63-53.
Eight days earlier, UC Davis beat UC Riverside in its regular season finale at the Pavilion to wrap up the No. 2 seed in the conference.
Preview: After losing five games in a row to end the month of December, the Aggies look to be back on track in January as conference play begins to heat up.
UC Davis opened up Big West play at home by defeating Cal State Northridge, giving head coach Sandy Simpson his 200th career victory.
The Aggies shot 48 percent from the floor as a team, and 53 percent from beyond the arc.
Now, UC Davis heads south to face rival UC Riverside.
On Mar. 6 of last season, over 1,000 people packed the Pavilion to see the Aggies upend the Highlanders and advance straight to the semifinal round in the conference tournament.
The Aggies will be trying to do the same this season, but with a team that has a completely different look. UC Davis is comprised of seven freshmen and only four upper classmen.
UC Riverside on the other hand is made up of eight seniors out of 15 roster players.
The Highlanders are led offensively by senior Kemie Nkele, who leads the team in scoring (16.4 points per game) and rebounding (7.9 boards per game).
–Max Rosenblum
