Jan. 31, 2009
Box Score
Stockton, Calif. - Despite a slow start, the Pacific women's basketball team remained perfect in the Alex G. Spanos Center during the 2008-09 season with a 63-60 victory over UC Davis on Saturday, Jan. 31.
Pacific moved to 11-9 on the season and 5-3 in the Big West Conference, while UC Davis fell to 7-12 overall and 3-5 in conference play following the contest. The Tigers' victory moved their home record to 10-0 this season.
Coming into the contest as one of the conference's top scoring teams, it was Pacific's defense that won the day for the Tigers as they held back the Aggies' comeback attempt and stifled their last possession efforts. In the game, Pacific forced 25 Aggie turnovers, grabbing 14 steals in the process led by senior Janae Young's (Sacramento, Calif.) career-best six steals.
Early in the contest, Pacific showed glimpses of its shutdown defense, holding the Aggies to just one point from the 16:22 mark in the first half until the 11:41 mark to erase an 11-2 deficit sustained in the first four minutes of play. Behind the defense, the Tigers mounted an 11-1 run that put Pacific in the lead 13-12, making the game into a contest that would not be decided until the final minute of play.
In the final 12 minutes of the first half, the game's lead changed hands nine times with Pacific taking the final lead of the half into the break, 31-30, after Young hit her first, and only, three-pointer of the contest with :41 seconds to play in the half. Overall, Young paced the Tigers early and throughout, scoring seven first half points. Freshman Claire McLeod (Victoria, Australia) gave the Tigers nine good minutes in the half, making an impact with six points while grabbing three of Pacific's 12 rebounds. She would finish the contest with five rebounds in just 12 minutes of work.
In the half the Tigers shot 57.1% (12-of-21) from the floor in the half while the Aggies were just slightly behind Pacific, hitting 12-of-24 (50.0%) from the field.
From Pacific's first lead of the game at 11:41 to go in the opening half on, neither side was able to build its lead larger than six points, a feat the Tigers did twice in the second half, only to see the Aggies immediately answer to pull the game even. Despite the constant tug-of-war, Pacific only relinquished its lead once in the second half, briefly giving up three point lead to UC Davis at 47-44 with 8:40 to play before scoring six unanswered points to reclaim the lead.
UC Davis mounted one last charge at the end of the contest against the Tigers, cutting what was a six point lead for Pacific to just one with 1:24 to play on a Paige Mintun three-pointer, however, the Tigers would hit 4-of-5 free-throws down the stretch to give themselves just enough cushion to setup their perimeter defensive stand in the final seconds of the game. With 12.7 to play, the Aggies had possession, trailing by three. With the ball in-bounded in their backcourt, the Tigers mustered one last defensive hold, stopping the last ditch effort without giving up a final shot to hold on for the win.
Pacific's stand proved to be even more impressive due to the fact that up until the final buzzer the Aggies had taken advantage of the Tigers' collapsing defense to hit 5-of-8 from distance in the second half alone. For the game the Aggies were 8-of-17 from behind the arc.
Overall, Young finished the game with 15 points on 6-of-16 shooting while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. Senior Amber Simmon (Chico, Calif.) rebounded from a tough prior week to post 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting while hitting 3-of-4 from the line. Senior Amy VanHollebeke (Carlsbad, Calif.) ran the point for the Tigers for all 40 minutes of the game, recording eight points on 3-of-8 shooting. Additionally, VanHollebeke dished out six of Pacific's 12 assists and grabbed a career-tying best five steals.
The Tigers outrebounded the Aggies 37-to-27 overall, posting a +14 rebound advantage in the second half. Senior Whitney Price (Las Vegas, Nev.) pulled down seven rebounds in 23 minutes of action to go along with four points and two assists to help Pacific's cause.
For UC Davis, Mintun led all scorers with 17 points, hitting 5-of-9 shots while tallying a team-best six rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Kasey Riecks netted 14 points and grabbed five rebounds to round out the top of the stat totals for the Aggies. Overall, UC Davis outshot the Tigers, 44.9%-to-41.1%.
Pacific will be back in action on Thursday, Feb. 5 as Pacific hosts UC Riverside at 7 p.m.
