Northern Colorado uses stifling defense to defeat Aggies, 57-47, in non-conference women's basketball battle
UC Davis struggles on offense in final game before resuming Big West Conference play
This was not the kind of performance Aggie head coach Jen Gross was hoping for as her UC Davis women’s basketball team heads into a 12-day break before resuming Big West Conference play on New Year’s Day.
Trailing for all but the opening two minutes, the Aggies were unable to solve Northern Colorado’s suffocating defense and suffered a 57-47 loss before a holiday gathering of 489 Saturday afternoon at the University Credit Union Center.
The loss drops the Aggies to 8-4 overall, while UNC out of the Big Sky Conference advances to 9-3.
Gross will give her charges five days off, bringing them back the day after Christmas to prepare for their January 1 Big West date at Cal State Northridge.
The Aggies are 1-0 in Big West play after defeating Hawaii in their conference opener earlier this month.
“It’s hard to take a loss on the last game before we get back into conference,” Gross noted after a long post-game meeting with her team.
“Now we’ll have to sit on this loss, but I love this team and how they came together afterward determined to do better going forward, which is what it will take to win the Big West championship.”
A layup by Avery Sussex gave the Aggies their only lead of the afternoon at 2-0 as UCD held their guests scoreless for the opening four minutes.
UNC responded, however, with a 6-0 run and led 16-8 at the quarter as the Aggies had trouble getting good looks at the basket.
“Credit Northern Colorado,” Gross added.
“They play tough, physical basketball and a different style of defense than we’re used to. We just didn’t rise to the occasion today.”
The Aggies played good defense themselves, but gave up 15 offensive rebounds, resulting in several successful put-back opportunities for the Bears.
Northern Colorado head coach Kristen Mattio was thrilled to leave the UCUC with an impressive win over a perennial Big West power.
“That’s a very good basketball team and we emphasized defense in our preparation,” said Mattio.
“As well as they shoot the ball, we knew we had to have a tough, gritty defense. This is a great win for us.”
The Bears led 28-20 at half and 46-34 after three quarters, never allowing the Aggies to come closer than seven points down the stretch.
Sussex and Ryann Bennett had 13 points apiece to lead UCD, while Megan Norris led everyone on the floor with 11 rebounds.
Noted Gross, “We weren’t at our best, but we still had a lot of fight, which is what we want to see. We’ll learn from this, because this team wants to get better.”
Following their visit to Cal State Northridge, UCD will be at Cal State Bakersfield on Jan. 3 before coming home Jan. 8 for a 6 p.m. Big West battle with UC Santa Barbara.
Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com