Aggie women rally late to drop Idaho before record women's basketball crowd
Ryann Bennett leads the way with 21 points as 5,567 fans pack the UCUC
A couple of great things happened at the University Credit Union Center on Friday.
First, the Aggie women put on a clinic on how to close a game in the fourth quarter to take an impressive 89-76 win over Idaho and push their early-season basketball record to 2-0.
Second, this strong showing was witnessed by a school record 5,567 excited fans, easily eclipsing the crowd of 4,712 that watched the Aggies battle No. 1 University of Connecticut back in 2014.
Aggie head coach Jen Gross couldn’t contain her enthusiasm afterward, both for the win and for the crowd.
“I just want to give a huge thank you to everybody who made this day possible,” Gross noted.
“Our athletic department for pouring in the resources necessary to create such an atmosphere, the Davis and surrounding school districts for bringing the kids out. This is exactly what I was hoping it would be for our student-athletes and it was a ton of fun.”
The game, with an 11 a.m. start, is billed as the annual “Field Trip Day” when school kids from around the area get to skip reading, writing and arithmetic to learn what collegiate women’s basketball is all about.
And yes, it tends to be a noisy affair, even more so because of the way the Aggies handled the Vandals.
“That’s a really good Idaho team,” Gross added.
“We were a bit short-handed today and I was proud of how we competed. We played together, we created for each other and I thought we just played with a high level of urgency the whole game.”
It took three full minutes of scoreless basketball before things heated up, with Ryann Bennett scoring UCD’s first five points in a quarter that ended with a 19-18 Idaho lead.
The Aggies rallied to take a 39-32 advantage into halftime, but that lead melted to 65-63 entering the final quarter.
That’s when the Aggies rose to the occasion with a combination of aggressive defense and opportunistic offense to win going away.
Over the final 10 minutes UC Davis hit 62 percent from the field while holding Idaho to just 21 percent while outscoring the Vandals, 24-13.
Bennett led five Aggies into double figures with 21 points and added six assists.
Nya Epps had 19, Tegan Young 17, Megan Norris 14 and Avery Sussex 12.
Norris dominated the boards with 11 rebounds, with Young adding eight.
Six Aggies hit from long range on a day when UCD converted 14 of 30 3-point attempts.
The Aggies now leave the UCUC’s friendly confines and will become road warriors for the next six games, beginning with a Nov. 12 date at Weber State in Ogden, Utah.
They follow that with road games at Boise State, Stanford and Sacramento State, plus games against Jacksonville State and Milwaukee at the Tiger Turkey Tip-off in Stockton.
UCD finally returns home December 4 to open Big West play against Hawaii in a 6 p.m. game.
Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com
This is probably a signature moment for local women's sports. Lots going on in the community, and the nice weather was especially favorable for NOT going indoors and paying for the privilege to do so. Yet, a crowd like this, to see females play a game! There were scores of little girls in that audience last night. Many of them thinking, "This is what I want to do when I go to college." Signature moment.
Thanks for allowing Aggie fans to attend football and basketball games virtually through your vivid commentary. I will be at the UCUC when I'm back in town.