It's seven wins in a row and counting for Aggie women's basketball
Sabel, Epps, Norris lead the way in 68-41 rout of Cal State Northridge
The UC Davis women are making a habit of jumping on opponents quickly and never taking their foot off the gas.
That strategy was evident once again Saturday afternoon as the Aggies scored early and often to rout Cal State Northridge, 68-41, in a Big West basketball game before a crowd of 732 at the University Credit Union Center.
“Today we had some really great moments where I thought we were locked in, but I also think there are some areas for improvement," said Aggie head coach Jennifer Gross.
Indeed, play was a bit disjointed at times in the early going, but there was never a doubt about who was going to win this game.
Added Gross, "I think it was a good opportunity for a lot of players to get some game minutes this week and that’s going to be helpful because depth is important in a 20-game conference season. We know going on the road next week that we need a different mentality, so we’re looking forward to that."
The Aggies opened conference play on the road with wins over Cal Poly SLO and UC Santa Barbara in early December, but also have had no trouble defending their home floor.
After racing to their seventh straight win, the Aggie women are now 4-0 in Big West play and 10-4 overall. Northridge fell to 1-3 and 3-10.
After opening league play with a 66-60 win over Cal Poly, the Aggies have been dominant with wins of 72-50 over UCSB and 81-37 over Cal State Bakersfield.
"When you jump on a team early and continue to play at a high level, you can use a lot of people and experiment with different lineups," Gross noted.
"Starting 4-0 means the target on our back gets bigger, but that's a great position to be in. Every game is a different challenge for us. We may not have been at our best today, but it continues our momentum."
The Aggies actually trailed briefly in this one when Northridge opened a 4-1 lead.
That advantage lasted all of about 20 seconds before Mazatlan Harris hit a trey to tie things, then Nya Epps had a bucket and Sydney Burns followed with a 3-pointer and it was off to the races.
The Aggies led 15-9 at the quarter, 33-17 at half and 56-28 on a 3-pointer from Avery Sussex to close the third quarter. Their biggest lead, 68-39, came just before the end.
Epps and Tova Sabel had 10 points each to pace the Aggies, while Megan Norris pulled down 11 rebounds to go with three assists and three steals.
UCD hits the road Thursday at Cal State Fullerton and Saturday at Long Beach State before returning home Jan. 16 against Cal Poly (6 p.m.) and Jan. 18 (2 p.m.) against Santa Barbara.
Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com
Woot woot.
Love the uniform/colors. The colors remind me of my days playing basketball at Davis Senior High School. I know that feeling of being on top winning consecutively. They are an excellent team and hope they continue to keep up their momentum👏