Aggies survive dramatic showdown with UC Irvine in Big West women's basketball tournament
Sabel, Norris, Harris, Epps lead the way in tense 63-56 win to advance to tournament championship game Saturday afternoon
HENDERSON, NEVADA ... Survive and advance has become the theme for the UC Davis women's basketball team that is now just one game away from winning the Big West Conference tournament and punching its ticket to the NCAA's Big Dance.
Survive the Aggies did Friday afternoon at Lee's Family Forum with a clutch late-game performance after a 21-point first-half lead over UC Irvine melted to a single point midway through the fourth quarter.
UCD won this crucial showdown, 63-56.
The No. 3 Aggies will battle No. 4 UC San Diego for the tournament title and NCAA bid Saturday at 3 p.m. The game will be televised live by ESPN+ and broadcast on KDVS 90.3 FM.
San Diego advanced with a 51-49 win over No. 1 Hawaii, somehow holding on after blowing a 25-point first-half lead and scoring only 10 points in the second half.
"I'm happy to be preparing for another game tomorrow," said an exuberant Aggie head coach Jen Gross.
"We got through some adversity in this game and we just trusted each other to do our jobs."
Irvine was 2-0 during the regular season against UCD, but it was the Aggies who roared out of the gate to take a 15-2 lead, with Megan Norris, Tova Sabel and Mazatlan Harris all hitting 3-pointers.
UCD then went on a 13-0 run in the second quarter to take their biggest lead of the game at 32-11 before settling for a 35-16 advantage at half.
But that's when the tables flipped dramatically.
Irvine opened the third quarter with an 11-0 streak of its own and what had looked like a rout of historic proportions suddenly became "game on."
Irvine, which had hit just 1 of 13 long-range attempts in the first half, was 4 of 5 in the third quarter to quickly cut into the Aggie lead.
The Aggies still led, 47-42, entering the fourth quarter, but Irvine trimmed that to 51-50 with 5:37 remaining.
That's when Aggie Pride kicked in.
Norris hit a pair of free throws, Sabel had a clutch 3-pointer and the Aggies took a 58-52 lead into the final two minutes.
Irvine cut that to 58-56, but Nya Epps drove the lane to convert a contested layup for a 60-56 lead at 0:41.
Then Harris took center stage, blocking an Irvine layup, grabbing the rebound and converting a free throw at the other end to seal the deal.
"Those shots by Tova and Nya were huge," Gross offered.
"We needed someone to step up and they did."
Added Sabel, "We weren't getting as many open shots in the second half, but knowing how much my teammates trusted me gave me confidence."
Said Norris, who had 10 rebounds to break the Aggie all-time single-season record with 244, "We weren't scoring as easily in the second half, but we knew as long as we were getting stops, we'd be in it."
For her part, Harris said defense is what has carried the Aggies all season long.
"I'm at an all-time high right now," she exclaimed.
"I'm so proud of all my teammates. Losing twice to Irvine, this one is so sweet. We just made sure we had each other's backs. Our defense is what we pride ourselves on."
Things won't get any easier in Saturday's championship battle against UC San Diego, a team UCD split with during the regular season, losing at home, 65-63, then rallying in the fourth quarter for a 69-58 win in San Diego.
Said Norris confidently, "We're hungry and ready."
Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com