UC Davis dominates UH with size, shooting

The pregame question Saturday was not how Hawaii would stop UC Davis forward Morgan Bertsch. Coach Laura Beeman was pretty sure the Big West player of the year candidate would get her points no matter what.

Rather, could the Rainbow Wahine keep the Aggies’ other weapons sheathed?

Not quite.

Bertsch, the top scorer in the BWC, poured in 26 points on 11-for-17 shooting and the preseason favorite Aggies handed UH its most lopsided defeat as a modern Big West member, 76-52 at Davis’ Pavilion.

UH (7-8 overall) dropped to 0-2 to begin Big West play for the second straight year. Its previous worst loss since rejoining the league in women’s hoops in 2012 was by 20, against UC Riverside at home last season.

Problematic were the points UCD (12-3, 2-0) got from Marly Anderson (13 on 6-for-6 shooting), Cierra Hall (10) and Pele Gianotti (10).

“We shot the ball 10 more times than they did,” Beeman noted in a postgame phone interview, “(but) when you don’t score, and you’re playing against a team that just shoots the ball very, very well … you’re just not going to be able to stop a team like that. The fact that Bertsch got 26 doesn’t bother me. It’s some of the other kids that were above their average that shouldn’t have been.”

Davis shot 55.8 percent from the field. UH, in contrast, shot just 30.7 percent (19-for-62), 18.8 percent on 3s (3-for-16), and 55.0 percent at the line (11-for-20).

Forward Kenna Woodfolk led UH with 11 points. Top scorer Sarah Toeaina found the going much tougher than her 23-point effort in a 12-point loss at Cal State Fullerton on Thursday. The 5-foot-11 guard scored nine on 4-for-11 shooting.

“Absolutely, the size of Davis (made it tough for her),” Beeman said. “They have guards that are 5-10, 5-11 guarding her. So her posting up and getting isolation wasn’t going to happen. When you’re not shooting the ball well, they can bring a double team.”

UH shot 11-for-27 on layups as Davis won the points in the paint battle 40-24.

“The bottom line, we’re not going to beat very many teams shooting the ball 30 percent,” Beeman said. “We’re just not. We have to shoot the ball better. We have to make layups. We had 14 offensive rebounds and scored six points on second-chance opportunities. You should be scoring 14 off of that at the minimum.”

UH trailed by seven points after the first and second quarters and Tia Kanoa’s steal and layup brought UH within 38-35 in the third. But the Aggies went back to Bertsch, who delivered.

“We had a bunch of empty possessions at that point, some silly fouls,” Beeman said. “They came down the floor and did not have empty possessions.”

UCD led 56-39 on a kick-out from Bertsch to Anderson for a 3, as the Aggies closed the period on a 10-0 run and led by 19 going into the fourth. They kept a comfortable lead the rest of the way.

UH’s home league opener comes against UC Irvine (8-7, 0-1) on Thursday.