UC Davis women lose to Cal State Northridge 61-47 in Big West Conference semifinal

UC Davis couldn’t overcome a cold-shooting first half and ran into a defensive buzz saw Friday afternoon in falling 61-47 to Cal State Northridge in their Big West Conference women’s basketball semifinal at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Northridge, the defending tournament champion, will play top-seeded Hawaii for the title on Saturday.

The fifth-seeded Aggies (15-16) trailed the Matadors 25-14 at the half and had difficulty throughout the afternoon getting into their Princeton offense against Northridge’s nagging defense. Northridge (22-9) forced 19 UCD turnovers and held the Aggies to 43 percent shooting, including 14 percent from beyond the arc.

Northridge made a point of denying UCD perimeter standout Kelsey Harris, who scored 26 points and had a tournament record-tying eight three-pointers in the Aggies’ 70-67 upset of No. 4 Long Beach State on Wednesday. The senior guard was held to six points and missed on her only three-point attempt.

Junior forward Alyson Doherty led the Aggies with 14 points – 12 in the second half – and seven rebounds and junior forward Celia Marfone added 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting and had 10 rebounds. Senior guard Ashlee Guay led Northridge with a game-high 21 points and added seven rebounds and six assists.

UCD closed to within 33-31 with 10:56 to play on Doherty’s layup before threes by Randi Friess, Guay and Cinnamon Lister keyed a 9-4 Matador run and 42-35 lead with 9:08 to go. The Aggies would not get closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Lister added 13 points for Northridge while Janae Sharpe scored 10.

This story was originally published March 13, 2015 at 5:03 PM with the headline "UC Davis women lose to Cal State Northridge 61-47 in Big West Conference semifinal."