Former UC Davis women's basketball star, Evanne Turner, has signed a contract with Finnish basketball team BC Nokia, playing in Korisliiga, Finland's top professional league.

Turner most recently played in the 3x3 Basketball Association (3XBA) is the first and only professional women’s FIBA 3x3 league and development program in the United States.

Senior guard Tova Sabel named to NCAA D1 Women’s Starting 5 this week.

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2025-01-08/kentuckys-georgia-amoore-leads-womens-basketball-starting-five-week-10

Earlier in the week, Sabel was named Big West Player of the Week, the 5th time in her Aggie career she’s been honored. Sabel scored her 1,000th point as an Aggie in the win over CSU Bakersfield.

Agree that Ally Fitz is starting to show she can make an impact off the bench. Definitely hoping she stays healthy and continues to develop - and stay for a fifth year. One area to improve is stronger hands on the ball. She had it stripped 2-3 times yesterday while holding it. Clara Glad is another player who is pushing for more playing time. More confident shooting the 3 and going to the basket.

The Fullerton game could be tricky. Jeff Harada usually gets a lot out of what he has, and Fullerton seems to play us tough, especially at home. The Aggies can't be looking past Thursday to the matchup with Long Beach.

Love the way Jen Gross is coaching this team. Up by 28 yesterday and she didn't like the defensive effort, so called a timeout and lit into everyone, not just those on the court. That's the second time in this homestead I've seen that. This team seems to want that accountability. They responded really well both times.

But also an indication that Riverside will be a tougher out, especially at home, than they've been for a couple of years.

Big West Score Alert: UC Irvine 54 UC Riverside 59 at Riverside. The Aggies get an assist from the Highlanders! And a BIG week ahead for UCD women, playing at Long Beach with the conference lead possibly on the line.

The Matadors’ zone defense caused problems for UCD in the first half, but the Aggies returned the favor locking down the Matadors and taking slowly but steadily control after the 1st quarter media timeout. On the plus side, having to work at it will make for a good week in practice before heading to SoCal for what are now even bigger games at Fullerton and Long Beach.

Despite the slog through the Matador zone, everyone on the floor for the Aggies was looking to be aggressive with the ball.

Unfortunately, mentoring a newbie seems to result in too many no calls. While the officials whistled a half-dozen offensive fouls when CSUN set screens, they allowed Megan Norris and Ally Fitzgerald to get mugged whenever either player made a move in the low post, and cutters were constantly grabbed.

But also an indication that Riverside will be a tougher out, especially at home, than they've been for a couple of years.

Big West Score Alert: UC Irvine 54 UC Riverside 59 at Riverside. The Aggies get an assist from the Highlanders! And a BIG week ahead for UCD women, playing at Long Beach with the conference lead possibly on the line.

Beyond the Recap: Great to see Mazzie Harris and Nya Epps come out aggressive and confident on offense. The two anchors on defense were looking for their shots.

Over the last few games, Coach Jen Gross seems to have found a rotation that's working, bringing in Baker and Bennett as the first subs then filtering in other players as the game dictates. The bench continued its recent strong play contributing 32 points-25 rebounds-9 assists. Since the Santa Barbara game, the bench has played extended minutes and making solid contributions. Individual improvement is obvious, which is a good sign for the future, both immediate and next season.

Final: UCD 81 CSUB 37. Not as close as it looks.

Full disclosure: I used Toke69's post for the MBB game as a model, so belated thanks / credit is due.

Bennett, Sussex, Glad, Kanagasabay, Theoni Tsami (injured this year) and Fitzgerald, assuming she plays a 5th year, will be the core the first year in the Mountain West.

I agree there's much to like about Bennett and Sussex. In addition to what you mentioned 1) they can both play either guard spot comfortably and 2) they both seem to have a solid mid-range game in addition to shooting 3's or going to the basket. We've had good guard play for years, but I think it's been since the Nakekh-Nagel-Gianotti era that our grads were effective scorers at all three levels. And 3) they seem to play well together already.

It was great to see Kangasabay get her first extended playing time and respond as well as she did. I'm hopeful she'll get some more on Thursday against CSUB. It's tough to be playing the same position as Sabel this year. Vic Baker can play that spot as well and so can Clara Glad, who also has difficulty getting minutes. It was great to see Glad come out aggressively yesterday as well. Showed she can play the 4 as well as the 3.

As for Fitzgerald, she only played in 7 games (30 minutes total) at Colorado her freshman year before getting injured. I liked her too and I hope she stays healthy - seems to be a bit of an issue - continues to develop and stays for a redshirt senior year.

Maritime was obviously not much of a challenge, but it was nice to see the younger players - Bennett, Glad, Kanagasabay, & Sussex - as well as Fitzgerald, get extended playing time. They all looked good, especially Bennett and Sussex. Both had 11 points & 6 assists in @20 minutes, including mid-range scoring ability.

The whole group maybe showing some of what the coaching staff see from them in practice. A peek into the future?

It will be interesting to see if they get solid minutes in the next three games against the lowest tier of BW schools. Particularly at Fullerton, which has played several teams pretty close.

Interesting - and not particularly optimistic - article about the challenges facing Group of 5 Conferences, one of which is the Mountain West.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/41207867/state-group-5-college-football-playoff-2024

Per Top Drawer Soccer, defender Elise Piccard is also transferring to Oregon. Picard was a sophomore who started 19 games as a freshman, and had a season-ending injury in the 3rd game this year. Another big loss for the Aggies.

Yeah, we saw her go down, but she seemed to be moving pretty normally after the game. As for her not returning in the second half, we felt that Gross found a combination that was working at both ends of the court and went with it. Bennett played the last 15 minutes plus, Burns the final 13 or so. I think Sable played the least, @10 and a half.

A really effective unit.

Bennett and Sussex are both strong additions. Though they have their own games, they're comparable offensively. Bennett has a stronger defensive foundation, so is more of a two-way player right now. Hence, more playing time thus far. Sussex also missed 2 games (and some practices) due to a concussion in practice. As Sussex's defense improves, I agree that she'll earn more minutes.

Do you know why Mazzie missed today's game?

Per Top Drawer Soccer, Oregon only has 4 WSOC commits in the 2025 graduating class. None are goalies.
The 2 goalies on their currently published 2025 roster are nowhere near what Joyner had with Goldstein here at UCD the last 3 seasons (1.06 goals against avg.). The RS senior has a career 1.82 goals against average and the RS junior has a career 2.52 goals against. It looks like Kiesling could not only be the future, but will have a decent chance to play immediately.

Joyner brought Chris King to Davis, and, I think, had worked with him when both were assistant coaches.
It's frustrating to have a departing coach take players and assistants with them when they leave. On the other hand I understand wanting to have "your people" with you when you take on a new head position. You know what to expect from them.
And as an assistant, you have no guarantee that the incoming coach will keep you on. Gotta put food on the table and keep a roof over your head.