Epps, Sabel, Baker lead Aggie rout of Long Beach in Big West women's basketball
Key win gives Aggies a chance for a weekend sweep on Saturday against Fullerton
Nya Epps had a career night with 24 points as UC Davis led from start to finish to take a key 71-57 Big West women's basketball win from Long Beach State Thursday night at the University Credit Union Center.
The win moves the Aggies to 8-4 in conference play and 14-8 overall with eight games to go. Long Beach is now 7-5 and 11-10.
Epps was hot from the start and never slowed down as the Aggies built a 27-11 lead and remained comfortably ahead the rest of the way.
Epps, a junior from El Cerrito, was 8 of 10 from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3-point land. She added four assists and four rebounds to her night's work.
"Tonight she just went out and did it," said Aggie head coach Jen Gross of Epps.
"She knocked down those threes and she finished some tough layups."
Tova Sabel had a big hand in the early lead with 13 first-half points on 5 of 6 shooting, then dominated the boards in the second half to keep The Beach at arm's length.
Sabel finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Victoria Baker also had 15 points for the Aggies.
Any hope that Long Beach had of staging a second-half rally was crushed by UCD's deadly free throw shooting down the stretch.
The Aggies finished 20 of 21 from the line, with Baker perfect on all seven of her attempts.
"This was a huge win for us," added Gross, seemingly unaware that she had just tied Sandy Simpson for most wins by an Aggie women's basketball coach, both with 251.
"Long Beach is a great team that's tough on defense. In this league, no one is going to roll over."
UCD's stifling 40-minute defense held The Beach to just 26.4 percent shooting from the field.
In other Big West action Thursday night, UC San Diego drilled UC Riverside, 72-49, Cal State Fullerton edged Cal State Northridge, 65-61, and UC Santa Barbara stopped Cal State Bakersfield, 51-40.
The Aggies return to Big West action at home Saturday at 2 p.m. against Cal State Fullerton.
Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com