UC Riverside rallies late to hand Aggie women a 55-53 loss in Big West basketball showdown
Cold shooting from long range plagues UC Davis in disappointing road loss
RIVERSIDE ... UC Riverside rallied late to take a 55-53 Big West women's basketball win from UC Davis Thursday night before a gathering of 103 fans at SRC Arena.
The loss drops the Aggies to 15-9 overall and 9-5 in the Big West, while Riverside moves to 11-13 and 7-7.
The teams were tied at 12 at the end of the first quarter, but UCD pulled away to a 25-22 lead at intermission.
The Aggies went cold in the third quarter, managing just nine points as the Highlanders established a 39-34 advantage entering the final 10 minutes.
UCD's Ryan Bennett hit a layup off a great feed from Megan Norris to give the Aggies a 51-49 lead with 2:32 remaining, but UCR's Hannah Wickstrom responded with a 3-pointer and the Highlanders held off the Aggies down the stretch.
The Aggies managed just 2 of 16 from long range, while Riverside was 7 of 18.
Tova Sabel led the Aggies with 16 points and 10 rebounds, with Nya Epps adding 10 points.
Seneca Hackley had 20 points for Riverside.
The Aggies return home Saturday at 2 p.m. against UC San Diego.
In other Big West action Thursday night, Hawaii dropped Long Beach State, 72-65, Cal State Fullerton edged Cal Poly, 67-64, UC Santa Barbara stopped UC Irvine, 62-52, and UC San Diego routed Cal State Bakersfield, 63-45.
Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com