°”TV womenâs basketball closed out March Madness with a last Saturday (March 23), but thereâs no taking away âŠ
- The Marvelous Madness of a 25-8 season.
- A 15-1 Big West Conference record and third consecutive regular-season title.
- The conference tournament title, earning °”TV its second trip to the NCAAs as a Division I program.
- A 16-game winning streak leading into the Stanford game.
And, last but not least, the Morgan Madness that permeated the entire season. Morgan as in senior Morgan Bertsch, who finished her Aggie career with 2,422 points, the most for any player in °”TV menâs and womenâs basketball history (and, who, during Saturdayâs game, moved into third place on the list of all-time scorers in the Big West).
But it wasnât all about Morgan. It was also about Nina Bessolo; Karley Eaton and Kourtney Eaton, the twins; Emma Gibb; Cierra Hall; Kaitlyn Hsu; Kayla Konrad; Cierra McKeown; Brittany Nguyen; Makaila Sanders; Sophia Song; Sage Stobbart; Katie Toole; and Mackenzie Trpcic.
âSometimes you get lucky because you get a group of people that are selfless and that care more about the team than they do themselves, and thatâs what we have in our group this year,â Jennifer Gross, Big West coach of the year three years running, told the media after the Stanford game, as quoted by The Davis Enterprise. âTheyâre a really special group of individuals who compete for each other.â
âThis has been one of the most rewarding, richest coaching experiences that Iâve had â and itâs all because of Kourtney (Eaton) and Karley (Eaton) and Morgan and all the other student-athletes that weâve had,â Coach Gross said.
So, hereâs a last look at those student-athletes and their memorable season: studying, preparing, competing until the end, and celebrating with their heads (and arms) held high.
Photos by Karin Higgins/°”TV
Media Resources
Dateline Staff, 530-752-6556, dateline@ucdavis.edu