The Davis Enterprise Friday, December 23, 2022

UCD professor wins award for sci-tech breakthrough

By Monica Stark Enterprise staff writer

As flooding in south and south-east Asia has had a detrimental effect on rice production, scientists for decades have worked toward figuring out how to genetically modify the crop so it could withstand days of submersion.

Sharing a common goal with the rice breeding and genetics community to help smallholder farmers grow rice in a manner that will alleviate challenges and enhance food security, UC Davis Plant Pathology Professor Pamela Christine Ronald and her team created a new species of rice that are resistant to submergence, bringing a longterm solution to nutrition problems to populations in many countries, especially

Deck the halls

4350 Cowell was, once again, judged to be the top house in Davis. Derrick and Gayna Bang’s Christmas wonderland is always an amazing treat for the senses.

The Bangs’ display features yuletide traditions, favorite pop culture characters, and lots of moving parts. Once again, get out of your car and check it out up close.

Count the hidden Mickeys, check out the Minions — it really pays to look around. For more decorated houses from all around Davis, turn to Page A5.

Holman named Citizen of the Year

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

Sandy Holman has been a unifying presence in the city of Davis for decades, working to promote understanding and love for diverse cultures and groups.

Since founding the Culture CO-OP in 1991, Holman has led countless seminars, assemblies and presentations for residents of all ages, but with a particular focus on children. She also has mentored hundreds of UC Davis studentinterns who have since gone on to make their own impacts on the world, and spearheaded local events like the International Festival and Juneteenth.

And all the while, invariably dressed in her favorite color purple, Holman has never shied from the tough topics of racism and supremacy

ideology, bullying and more, but rather embraced the conversations with her trademark approach of love and compassion.

For all of that and more, Holman is this year’s Citizen of the Year, an annual award (previously known as the Covell Award) bestowed on a Davis resident for outstanding service to the community over time.

Individuals are nominated for the award and a committee of residents representing various activities in Davis select the recipients. The awards are presented at the annual Davis Chamber of Commerce Gala, to be held on Feb. 18.

West Sac childhomicide case delayed

By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer

WOODLAND — More delays plagued a West Sacramento child-homicide case this week as questions remain over the defendant’s mental capacity to stand trial.

Derrick Dimone Woods, accused of fatally beating his girlfriend’s daughter nearly two years ago, was scheduled to undergo a mental-health evaluation after his public defender questioned in May whether his client could understand the nature of the legal proceedings and could assist in preparing his defense.

“Sandy

contributions to the Davis community are as vibrant and authentic as her signature purple color,” said City Councilwoman Gloria Partida.

“Her mission to create a culture of caring, optimistic, open-minded people has left an indelible mark on every child that has attended one of her school assembly presentations, read one of her books or accepted one of her soul-filling hugs.

“Her documentary, ‘The Cost of Darkness,’ is forthright and moving,” Partida said. “The conversations she facilitates around the film expertly call you in rather than out, allowing us space to explore and remedy our racism and grow to be the best versions of ourselves.”

During a status conference Monday in Yolo Superior Court, a representative of the Alta California Regional Center — which provides services to people with developmental disabilities — reported that the original vendor slated to evaluate Woods had contracted Covid, requiring a new evaluator to take their place.

That evaluation was scheduled to proceed Dec. 19, with a report expected to be completed on Dec. 26, the representative said. Visiting Judge Stephen Mock ordered a further review on Jan. 6.

Woods, 44, was arrested

EntErprisE photo

Holman’s

CourtE sy photo

Sixteen-month-old Amanda Owens, right, was found dead in a motel room on Feb. 15, 2021, allegedly murdered by her mother’s boyfriend; her half-brother Elijah Washington was also hurt in the attack.

RONALD Worked on new species of rice

HOLMAN Citizen of the Year

MAILING ADDRESS

Ihear a gentle tap-tap, pause, tap-tap. I go to our living-room win dow, facing the back yard. A hermit thrush sits perched on the tiny tip of a bird of paradise leaf just a foot from our window.

It looks into the living room and doesn’t seem frightened by my movement. After a while, it flies up along the wall of the house. The date is Nov. 8. The hermit thrush visits every day, multiple times a day and still continues.

I had never seen that species in our backyard. I consult the “Checklist of the Birds of Yolo County, California” put out by the Yolo Audubon Society. It indicates the hermit thrush is here from midSeptember until the end of April. It is rare but regular; some individuals usually present.

Sometimes the thrush clings to a screen looking in. I often talk to it. I have not heard it singing though our phone that we set outside with the Merlin sound ID on, captured it. What is it doing and why does it fly up the side of the house? Often it flies to the pyracantha shrub and eats the orange berries. I tell a friend from West Davis, Dorothea Bonneau, and she has the same bird at her window, but it disappears in a few days.

I was invited to a potluck in Sacramento, a writers’ group. We were asked to bring a 100 word story. I got busy and my son-inlaw, Brian Andersen, sent me the link to a chatbot, artificial intelligence, and I decided to experiment and try it out. I clicked the link and wrote: “Write a 100 word story about a hermit thrush that comes to my California window and tap taps and then every day sits on a bird of paradise leaf and looks in the window and returns throughout the day for over a month.”

The chatbot instantly wrote: One day, a hermit thrush came to my California window and began tap tapping on the glass. I was immediately drawn to the bird's beautiful, melodic song. Every day, the hermit thrush would return to my window, perching on a bird of Paradise leaf and looking in at me. As the days turned into weeks, the bird became a constant presence in my life. I found myself eagerly anticipating its visits and was happy to see it feasting on berries and seeds in my backyard. The hermit thrush's visits have continued for over a month, bringing a sense of joy and wonder to my days.

I told the writers’ group that artificial intelligence wrote it. Something we all find scary and a new challenge.

I wrote to an online birding group, asking what was going on with the thrush. One person suggested I tack a shiny ribbon to the top of the window of a material like mylar that will move in the slightest breeze, reflecting off and revealing the window behind it. I didn’t do that thinking the bird was probably drawn to a reflection, hoping for another bird. The bird does not fly into the window and does not harm itself and like the chatbot wrote, it brings a sense of joy and wonder to my days. I love its presence which is my holiday present.

Start your new year looking up — with a bird stroll led by expert birders.

There are so many scientific studies indicating the many health benefits of seeing and hearing birds and being out in nature.

West Pond invites you to visit their Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden, all decked out for the holidays through December with garlands, bows and ornaments. They also have a new event, the first ever Woodland/Davis Christmas Count on Wednesday, Dec. 28. If you would like to join, contact Gene Trapp at grtrapp@comcast.net. The report from the count will go to the National Audubon Society and be shared via Cornell University’s eBird network. West Pond will also hold its monthly first-Wednesday stroll at 8 p.m. Jan. 4 at Isle Royale and Bryce Lane.

Friends of North Davis Ponds will hold their First Saturday Stroll on Saturday, Jan. 7, led by bird experts. Meet at 3500 Anderson Road. In the most recent North Davis eBird report, Joshua Greenfield surveyed the 3-acre Uplands Habitat Area on Third and F

streets along with three other birders and found 47 species, including a female phainopepla in the dead tree in the Partansky Pond, the first time Joshua has observed one land in town. They also observed Western bluebirds, confused about the seasons, starting

a nest in the nest boxes. Enjoy your holidays. Be well and kiss each day.

— Jean Jackman is a Davis resident. Her columns occur monthly. Got a story, comment, correction? Contact JeanJackman@gmail. com.

Bob Dunning is on vacation. The Wary I returns on Sunday.

Jean Jackman/courtesy photo

A hermit thrush sits in North Davis backyard appearing several times a day looking into Jean Jackman’s window. Below, Roger Smith spotted these male and female hooded mergansers in his North Davis rambles.

roger smith/courtesy photo

HOLMAN: A life of fighting for justice

The color of action

“Whether you know it or not,” said Partida, “if you have spent any time in Davis, you have been made better by the Purple Lady.”

That “purple lady,” as Holman is known, has lived in Davis since the 1980s. She is a graduate of UC Davis, with a degree in psychology, and earned a master’s degree in school counseling from Sacramento State University.

She also is the author of several books, including “We All Have a Heritage” and “Grandpa, Is Everything Black Bad?” and produced that documentary, “The Cost of Darkness,” which looks at the national and global history of racism and how its legacy is expressed to this day.

She is best known perhaps, for the Culture CO-OP (which stands for “caring, optimistic, openminded people”), which she founded more than 30 years ago with the goal of providing a paradigm for transforming individuals, communities and systems, as well as culturally relevant and responsive services.

Her work over the years is inspired by “the babies,” the children and young adults who, she said, “really just deserve the right to survive and thrive and deserve a better world than what we’ve been modeling for them.”

Holman noted that the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020 “really brought things to people’s attention, but this stuff has been going on for generations and it’s just more inflamed because we never really deal with it. It’s always this foundational kind of a mold that hangs around to be spread by an opportunistic situation, person or event.

“So for me, it’s the young folks, because I see them with my whole heart… out there in a place that’s looking pretty bleak for a lot of them.”

She meets weekly with her UC Davis studentinterns, who work on a variety of projects based on their interests.

“That’s honestly my greatest legacy when I leave this earth,” Holman said, “because they’re brilliant, and in their woundedness and pain and fear and anxiety and depression, they are

determined to make a difference and looking and searching for what they should do and how they should carve it out as they make a life for themselves.

“It’s just been a transformative experience for me and, from what they tell me, for many of them to have this space... They’re like love seeds. I see them as oak trees that have been planted all over the world to use whatever their purpose is to try to make a difference.”

And they are grateful for Holman’s impact on their lives.

“As an aspiring educator, she showed me the important role I play in my future students’ education,” said former intern Vivian Pham, a 2022 graduate of UC Davis.

“She’s inspired me to aspire to become a transformative educator, driven by social justice, educational equity and positively impacting my home community.”

Tahseen Ahmed, a 2020 UC Davis graduate, said Holman “told me to never doubt myself, to never give up, and to always ‘keep my eyes on the prize.’ I keep Sandy’s words in mind to this day. She will always be a role model and I’m very grateful for the time I got to know her.”

Said Holman of her interns: “They have schooled me more than I have schooled them, and I have learned so much about love and about difference and about cultural respect.”

In addition to young adults, Holman’s work also focuses on children, through book readings and assemblies and more.

Her goal is to teach them about differences, “in a way that isn’t crisis-driven or fear driven.”

But not all communities are entirely receptive, Holman said.

She described an event in Woodland where some parents didn’t want her to read her book, “We All Have a Heritage,” or allow their kids to have copies of it because, Holman said, it includes Black folks.

That highlights, she said, the need to teach compassion and love as early as possible.

“If we can get those things in the babies earlier, we’ll have a lot less toxicity later,” Holman noted.

“For most people of color, this stuff is just not

new,” she added. “I grew up seeing my brothers stopped countless times for just being Black. I had close calls when I was driving.

“I really struggled because when I first started my work, I came from the place of ‘people just do not know’ and if you make them aware, they’ll do the right thing. And I was operating on that because I was taught, and I still feel this way, to see the best in human beings — that even those who are acting out somehow lost themselves within their spirit and their souls and stepped away from what they could be optimally because of whatever was happening to them.

“So that would be my approach. But at some point in my journey… I realized in some cases, a lot of them did know but they did not want to deal with what has often been framed as ‘white guilt.’

Approaching those folks, “I found that coddling them just made them comfortable in staying in the spin cycle of perpetuating the very things that many of them said they were fighting against. And that wasn’t good either. If I was leaving all of my gatherings and trainings and everyone was smiling and happy, I knew I wasn’t doing my job. I knew I was not challenging them. I knew I was making them feel comfortable.”

Even now folks will call Holman asking her to come present to a group of children but ask that she not “talk about those gay folks, don’t talk too much about racism … we just want you to come and talk about respect … and please don’t bring any books,” she said.

“I’ve had to be like a chameleon and keep changing my approaches. But one thing has been consistent: the truth must be shared and we must hear it in order to have a chance of coming up with solutions to address it and to keep ourselves from spiraling down to even darker places.”

Work continues

Community members are grateful for Holman’s tireless efforts.

Holman, said Melissa Moreno, a Yolo County Board of Education trustee, “identifies racial disparities in the United

States, the impacts on communities and individual people of color, and emphasizes the solutions to end institutional racism.”

Many, she said, “are grateful to (Holman) for teaching love, understanding and sacredness of all people.”

Among those who spoke in favor of naming Holman this year’s Citizen of the Year was Scott Love, Yolo County Library regional manager at the Davis branch.

Love has worked with Holman on the county’s celebration of Juneteenth for years.

“Many don’t know,” he said, “but planning for Juneteenth usually begins around August of the previous year, and Sandy leads the way each time, and by February each year, it becomes a full-time job, though it never stops her from doing all the other community work that she does. It is impossible to measure the impact she has on the community and everyone she comes in contact with, because there are just so many whose lives she touches.

“I think one of the big impacts she has beyond this community, is with all the UC Davis interns,” Love said, adding that “you could say ‘Unselfish’ is probably Sandy’s middle name, but it is more likely her first name. If it is within her ability, she will do anything for anyone. She does not care who you are, she is here on this earth to help anyone she meets.”

For her part, Holman expressed gratitude for the honor being bestowed on her.

“I sincerely believe there’s so many people who are deserving of such a thing like this,” she said. “I’m very, very humbled that they chose me for it.”

And she has a message for community members about doing their part.

“No one has an excuse not to do something, because it’s part of your own healing, actually,” she said. “The love combined with intention and action and self-preservation, as well as community solidarity, is what will help us survive.

“When we stand aside and are witness to suffering and pain and injustice, destruction, and we do nothing, it will eventually find its way to you.”

BREAKTHROUGH: $500K for project

in countries affected heavily by climate change and flooding. In the future, rice species generated from Ronald’s discoveries will have increasingly large impacts as these new species resist other pathogens.

Ronald won a $500,000 award in the second VinFuture Prize for her accomplishments. An international prize that honors breakthrough scientific research projects “that positively impact the lives of billions of people on Earth now and in the future,” the VinFuture awards represent major advancements in science and technology that will reshape all aspects of life and promote sustainable development for humanity, according to a press release.

The grand prize is valued at $3 million. Three special prizes, each valued at $500,000, are awarded to female innovators, developing country innovators, and innovators with outstanding achievements in emerging fields.

Winners demonstrated innovations that contribute to promoting global recovery and post-pandemic restructuring.

Recipients were selected from nearly 1,000 nominations across 71 countries, according to a press release.

“I am deeply honored to be awarded this extraordinary prize. I appreciate that the VinFuture prize highlights the central role of agriculture and agricultural biotechnology in addressing one of the biggest challenges of our time - how to feed the growing population without destroying the environment,” Ronald told the Enterprise.

Grateful that the VinFuture Foundation promotes female innovators, Ronald hopes this recognition inspires the next generation of young women. “Our world needs science, and science needs women,” she said.

Ronald said that many scientists have contributed to the modification

of rice over 50 years since the first submergencetolerant rice variety was identified in the seed collection of the International Rice Research Institute.

Scientists screened their collection of diverse seeds that first identified an ancient variety of rice that could withstand two weeks of complete submergence, Ronald explained. Her colleagues Dave Mackill and Kenong Xu mapped this locus demonstrating a position on chromosome 9, giving the team the first insight into the genetics of this valuable trait.

In 1995, they began a collaboration to isolate this genomic region, explained Ronald. After Xu joined her lab as a postdoctoral fellow, he identified the key gene they named Sub1A. Xu showed that this single gene enables transgenic (genetically modified/ GMO) rice to grow while submerged in floods.

Around that time, Mackill stopped by Ronald’s office soon after this discovery to tell her about a project he was working on. He explained the devastation wreaked by flooding in rice fields in India and Bangladesh and asked if she would collaborate on isolating the critical gene. “I was thrilled to join the project, and we quickly got to work using the platforms my lab had created to isolate XA21 for the isolation of the Sub1A gene,” she said. Xu and Ronald joined colleagues Julia Bailey Serres, Takeshi Fukao, Kihong Jung, Oliver Dong, Ming-Che Shih in carrying out experiments.

In addition, Mackill, Abdel Ismail, and others at the IRRI, Bangladesh research institute, and others at the Cuttack rice research institute in India, conducted advanced breeding and field trials. And finally, Ronald said, it was the farmers in Bangladesh and Eastern India that demonstrated the success of the new seed variety in their fields.

in February 2021, a day after he allegedly beat 16-month-old Amanda Owens and her 3-year-old brother in a West Sacramento motel. Amanda died of her injuries.

The children’s mother, who had been away from the motel to borrow money for rent, returned to discover the brutalized siblings. Woods, meanwhile, fled the scene with the aid of his mother Annette Womack.

According to previous court testimony in the case, Womack drove to Silvey’s Motel on West Capitol Avenue on the morning of Feb. 15, 2021, after receiving a phone call from Woods.

A cousin who accompanied Womack to the scene told police they went inside the motel room to find Amanda “cold to the touch” while her brother Elijah was “tore up.” The cousin said she implored Woods and Womack to call 911, but her pleas were ignored.

Instead, the women parked their car nearby and waited for Woods’ departure.

“I took it too far,” Woods told investigators after his arrest the next day, according to court testimony. He said he started to discipline

Elijah that morning for misbehaving and got carried away, turning his anger onto the toddler girl as well.

Womack, who according to prosecutor lied to police about her son’s whereabouts after helping him flee the crime scene, later

pleaded no contest to being an accessory to a felony.

Judge Peter Williams sentenced her in November 2021 to three years in Yolo County Jail, of which she was expected to serve about a year due to time already served prior to her plea.

“There is a baby who is

either dead or dying. There is a boy who’s been brutally beaten, and she does nothing to call 911,” Williams said at Womack’s sentencing hearing. “To me, I feel like that lacks the kind of humanity I would hope that most of us would find in a similar situation.”

Mary Lee Thomson was born Feb. 9, 1940, in Milwaukee, to William Ketelaar and Elsie Carrine Campbell Ketelaar. Bill was a high-school football coach and principal. His family had immigrated from Holland to Wisconsin. Elsie was a high school English teacher and counselor with roots in Tennessee.

Mary Lee spent her first years in Milwaukee and finished high school in Madison, N.J., at age 17. In 1957 she started at Trenton State Teachers college with a plan to become a kindergarten teacher.

Quickly discovering that her printing was not neat enough, she switched to a history major.

In a History of World Civilization class, she met the love of her life, Joe Thomson. They married secretly in 1960 (as her mother was adamant about her finishing school first) and again in June 1961 in Saugerties, N.Y. They moved to Urbana, Ill., where both took up graduate degrees. Mary Lee acquired her master’s degree and two daughters, Pamela Joan and Lynda Mary.

In 1966 they set off for Canada in a Dodge sedan with two adults, two small children, and two Siamese cats. Mary Lee began teaching junior-high students, Joe

Sept. 3, 1938 — Dec. 6, 2022

Ann passed away peacefully with her family by her side on Dec. 6, 2022. She was born in Oxnard on Sept. 3, 1938, to Elizabeth and Thomas Leonard and was fourth generation of a pioneering farm family. She grew up in Camarillo, where she lived on her family’s ranch, Ventura Farms. She graduated from Santa Clara High School in 1956, where she excelled in academics and sports. She was the captain of her highschool basketball team and president of the Girls Athletic Association. If she wasn’t on the court, you’d find her swimming, playing softball, or having fun at the

Classifieds

ranch with her three sisters and brother.

After graduating from high school, she attended UC Berkeley, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in history and where she met her future husband, Loren Owings. Ann and Loren were married in August 1960 and spent a short time teaching in Lompoc before moving to Davis, where they raised their three daughters, Rebecca, Suzannah and Joey. Ann was a very active member of St. James Parish and she took an active roll in her children’s activities volunteering for the PTA and the Davis swim team, The

undergrads at the University of Victoria. They made life-long friends, camped in beautiful places and developed a love of folk music.

In 1971 they moved to Redwood City. Mary Lee received a traffic ticket, went to court, and discovered her professional calling. She started law school in 1975 at UC Davis and never lost her love of fast driving. She and Joe found a wonderful community in Davis. Their Boxing Day Open House events were attended by many friends and family annually.

Mary Lee was admitted to the California Bar in 1978 and went to work at the 3rd District Court

Aquadarts.

Ann and Loren retired to their treasured vacation destination, Mendocino, where they both lived out their remaining years. She enjoyed reading, swimming, hiking, and playing Pétanque with her friends. She also enjoyed gardening at her home and helped in the planting of a beautiful heather garden at St. Anthony’s Parish in Mendocino. Being an avid sports fan, she enjoyed watching her beloved San Francisco Giants and 49ers. She was also very

of Appeals in Sacramento. She practiced employment law at Littler Mendelson and was made partner in 1989. In 2005 she joined Employment Law Counsel, LLP and practiced until she retired in 2007. Throughout her career and into retirement Mary Lee worked for good causes including Suicide Prevention of Yolo County, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and for the Hattie Webber Museum in Davis where she campaigned to preserve the 1937 WPA-built restroom at Davis Central Park.

In 2019 after almost 60 years of marriage, Joe passed away. Mary Lee put her life back together and began a plan to

passionate about building the C.V. Starr Recreational Center in Fort Bragg and spent many hours there swimming in the pool and volunteering where needed.

Ann will be deeply missed by friends and family. She is survived by daughters Rebecca Owings, Suzannah Cerutti (Greg Andre) and Joey Sears (Gary Sears); sisters Mary Jo McPherson, Ellen Leonard and Jane Castruccio; brother Tom Leonard; and grandchildren Dominic Cerutti, and Ethan and Emma Sears.

Private services will be held in Mendocino. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to http://parkin son.org.

move back and forth between Davis with Pam and Santa Rosa with Lynda. In March of 2020 she was in Santa Rosa when the Pandemic lockdown began and there she stayed for the next year. She passed the time by designing and watching construction of Rose Cottage. She moved in in January 2021.

Mary Lee died in Santa Rosa on Oct. 26, 2022, after a brief illness, surrounded by her daughters. She is survived by her daughters, Pamela Joan Babington and Lynda Mary Thomson; grandsons Kyle James Bradbury and Kameron Joseph Bradbury; and nieces Elizabeth Jane Hoeper and Julianne Huff.

Make submissions to www.davisenterprise.com/ obit-form/. For further information about paid obituaries or free death notices, call 530-756-0800.

Elizabeth Ann Owings

OWINGS

Light the lights

Most ElEgant

BEst usE of spacE

BEst handMadE

Once again, Davis holiday enthusiasts have dressed their houses in their festive best, and Davis Enterprise writers were out to see for themselves which were the best houses. The following homeowners invite you to drive, bike or stroll by and check out their jaw-dropping light displays. See the map on Page A6

EntErprisE photos

The “Most Elegant” award went to 3110 Oyster Bay. This house has been done up for several Christmases and its brightly colored, nature-themed look never fails to charm.

The centerpiece to 2300 Loyola’s display is a decked-out yuletide VW bus with Santa at the wheel and a very excited passenger. Along with the decorated basketball hoop, the Enterprise elves judged this to be the “Best Use of Space.”

At 44081 N. El Macero, you’ll find the Enterprise judges’ choice for “Best Handmade Decorations.” The hand-painted wooden cutouts are set in a lovely traditional setting, taking advantage of all the space in the yard.

This is a house where it pays to get out on foot and look around. The lights just keep going and going.

‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ — Waterlogged

Overlong fantasy wears out its welcome

By Derrick Bang Enterprise film critic

Well, it happens to the best of us.

James Cameron has run out of ideas.

There’s no shortage of opulent, eye-popping imagination in this long-overdue sequel to his 2009 hit; this is sci-fi/fantasy worldbuilding on a truly monumental scale. Every frame could be extracted and admired, for the meticulous detail and all the “little bits” that you’ll likely overlook during first viewing.

That said, sitting through this semi-slog a second time won’t ever make my to-do list.

Writer/director Cameron, with a scripting assist from Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno, has basically recycled the first film’s plot, along with — thanks to cloning — the exact same primary villain: Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). He and his elite team of kill-crazy mercenaries have been transformed into “recombinants”: artificial 9-foot-tall avatars embedded with the memories of the humans whose DNA was used to create them.

The character template has broadened a bit, and the setting has shifted from the forest-dwelling Omatikaya Na’vi clan to the ocean realm of the Metkayina clan. But the conflict is identical: Earth’s nasty-ass Resources Development

Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Kate Winslet, Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Edie Falco

Available via: Movie theaters

Administration (RDA) returns in force, this time determined to colonize all of Pandora, as the new home for humanity.

And, as if this bit of déjà vu all over again weren’t enough, Cameron’s climactic third act includes a retread of “Titanic’s” ultimate fate … except, instead of a sinking ocean liner, our heroes wind up scrambling about the shifting decks of a 400-foot-long attack vessel, as it slowly slips beneath the sea. Heck, we even get the same “climb this way … now this way” scramble involving two key characters.

All that said, this still could have been a reasonably engaging 150-minute film … were it not expanded into an insufferably selfindulgent 192 minutes.

Cameron clearly didn’t trust his three co-editors.

The second act, in particular, accomplishes little beyond filling time. So many tight close-ups of

slow, thoughtful takes; so many half-baked lines delivered with measured, melodramatic intensity.

The story:

Roughly two decades have passed since Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and the Omatikaya Na’vi clan successfully sent the first RDA strip-mining operation packing. Jake has fully embraced his larger, stronger Na’vi identity; he and Neytiri have raised a family that includes sons Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and young daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss).

They’ve also adopted Kiri, the mysterious teenage daughter of the late Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) — nobody knew she was pregnant, nor who the father is — who, thanks to CGI “youthifying,” also is played by Weaver.

The family unit is

augmented further by Spider (Jack Champion), a human child orphaned by the earlier war: too young, at the time, to return to Earth.

Kiri seems to have retained her mother’s “oneness” with Pandora’s entire ecological system: a talent the girl doesn’t yet understand, but (we can be certain) will prove useful in the near future.

RDA’s return to Pandora is catastrophic. Jake and his family flee across Pandora, and ask to be accepted into the ocean-going Metkayina clan. Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), the Olo’eyktan (clan leader), bows to tradition and accepts their presence; his warrior wife Ronal, the Shamanic Matriarch (Kate Winslet), fears that Jake and his family will invite danger from the RDA “sky people.”

Tonowari and Ronal’s teenage daughter Tsireya

(Bailey Bass) quickly develops a crush on Lo’ak; Tsireya’s brother Aonung (Filip Geljo), a seasoned hunter, shares his mother’s wariness.

The focus soon shifts to the deeply spiritual relationship the Metkayina have with the tulkun, a species of sentient, highly intelligent, whale-like creatures.

Alas, Quaritch and his thugs soon track down Jake and his family, and we’re soon treated to a gratuitously cruel — and needlessly protracted — tulkun hunt. It’s every bit as horrifying as a real-world whale hunt.

This heinous act serves its purpose, as Cameron then launches us into the lengthy, explosive melee that occupies the entire final hour. It doesn’t let up, and simply gets more intense and exciting — if somewhat repetitious — as

Special to The Enterprise

“Treasure Island — A Musical Adventure” will run Jan. 13 to 22 at Woodland Opera House, 340 Second St. in Woodland.

Excitement runs high in this musical adaptation of a favorite childhood adventure story. Robert Louis Stevenson’s thrilling tale of pirates, treasure maps, mutiny on the high seas and pieces of eight follows Jim Hawkins, an ordinary youth who is drawn into a dangerous race for buried treasure against the treacherous Long John Silver. This lively show, full of fun characters and music, is great for all ages.

62-plus, and $10 for children 17 and under. Balcony tickets are $12 for adults and $7 for children. Flex Pass specials and group rates are available. Tickets are on sale online arts THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2022

The Prince Street Players Ltd. production is freely adapted from the novel by Stevenson, with book and lyrics by Jim Eiler, and

events proceed.

The acting is wildly uneven: no surprise, since CGI doesn’t really “act” successfully. Lang remains a thoroughly hissable villain, but Worthington’s performance is oddly flat. Saldaña and Winslet are persuasive as mother-bear warriors; Flatters’ Neteyam is rather emotionless. Dalton and Bass make the flirty dynamic between Lo’ak and Ronal rather sweet.

The members of Quaritch’s mercenary team barely have names, let alone distinct personalities; the best we get is that one woman likes to pop chewing gum bubbles. Like, that’s really deep, right?

As mentioned at the top, Cameron — along with production designers Dylan Cole and Ben Porter, and a veritable army of art directors — put heart and soul into creating this world, and its colorful and wonderfully varied sea creatures. If you’re satisfied with that, do see this film in 3D, and on a giant screen; the visuals are breathtaking.

But they doesn’t compensate for the absence of plot originality, the tedious exposition and protracted pacing.

“The Way of Water” concludes with an obvious setup for another installment, which — according to plan — will arrive in 2024 … following by parts four and five, in 2026 and 2028.

Seriously?

Only if Cameron sets his ego aside, and hires some better writers…

— Read more of Derrick Bang’s film criticism at http://derrickbang. blogspot.com. Comment on this review at www. davisenterprise.com.

Courtesy photo

at www.woodlandopera house.org and at the box office at 530-666-9617. Hours are Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 5 p.m. B Section Forum B2 Comics B3 Sports B6

Courtesy photo

Realizing that their presence puts the entire Na’vi clan in peril, Jake (Sam Worthington, far right) insists that his family — from left, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) and Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) — must leave their home, and move far away, to another part of Pandora.

Set sail for ‘Treasure Island’ at Woodland Opera House

Arr, Jim Boy, get ye to the Woodland Opera House for “Treasure Island.”

Courtesy photo

It’s pirates, parrots and adventure as Long John Silver and crew present “Treasure Island” at the Woodland Opera House.

A chance to make quality education a civil right

By Antonio Villaraigosa and John Deasy Special to CalMatters

Over the course of the pandemic and two years of prolonged school closures, public school students experienced historic setbacks in math and reading progress.

California’s Smarter Balanced test showed that less than half of California students met the standard for English language arts, and fourth- and eighth-graders suffered the sharpest decline in math scores since 1990. The losses were most dire among Black and Latino students.

It is abundantly clear that prolonged school closures were catastrophic to the academic progress and wellbeing of K-12 students. We now have the test scores to prove it.

When concerned parents in Los Angeles sued their district to reopen schools last year, LAUSD argued that because students don’t have a constitutional right to a quality public education, it had no legal obligation to provide one. This response by the second largest public school district in the nation should be alarming to us all.

Public education is a great equalizer. Children should not need to have the “right leaders” to receive something as crucial to their success as public education. It should be a fundamental civil right.

We are leading a coalition to change the state constitution in 2024, and put forward a ballot proposition that would guarantee every California child the right to a highquality public education.

Identical in structure to Proposition 1, the ballot proposition that garnered overwhelming support from voters to protect reproductive freedom, a 2024 ballot measure would change the California constitution to codify that children have a fundamental right to a high-quality public education.

Private polling found that more than 90% of California voters support codifying highquality public education as a civil right. Exhausted by the cascading crises of prolonged school closures and worsening teen mental health, parents are leading the movement to put kids first. They are joined by educators, civil rights and equity leaders, as well as mental health advocates.

A recent poll by California Parent Power found that just 31% of voters believe California’s leaders have a plan to improve public education, and nearly 75% of them would prefer a candidate who has a plan to get public school students back on track. Recognizing high-quality public education as a civil right is the kind of transformational change our children deserve.

At the same time, it will help restore trust in California leaders.

If public school systems are failing to teach kids how to read and do math – and if parents can no longer rely on schools – they will disinvest in them, as some already have. Those who can afford private school or homeschooling will take their kids out of public school, leaving largely poorer, nonwhite families with underfunded campuses.

The quality of a child’s public education shouldn’t be dependent on their parents’ income. Enshrining the right to a high-quality education would empower families to hold politicians accountable to their kidsfirst rhetoric. This is particularly important for communities of color, which have long been ignored by educational stakeholders to the detriment of their kids.

What happens in California matters to the rest of the nation. Over the next two years, voters should consider what high quality public education means to each and every public school student.

This will be an opportunity to reestablish California’s priorities, and finally recognize that a high-quality public education should be a right, not a sound bite.

— Antonio Villaraigosa was the mayor of Los Angeles from 2005-13. He was a member of the California Assembly, and served as majority leader and speaker during his sixyear tenure. John Deasy is a senior partner with Cambiar Education and a fellow with the Aspen Institute. He is a former superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District and Stockton Unified School District. They wrote this for CalMatters, a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California's Capitol works and why it matters.

Newsom can control Senate race

Unless something serious happens soon to five-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the politics of 2023 in California shapes up as a time of careful positioning by a horde of fellow Democrats angling for the 89-year-old Feinstein’s job.

If he likes, Gov. Gavin Newsom can control this scene. He has reportedly told President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris he will not run against either in 2024.

That makes Newsom seem prepared for at least five years of waiting, something he did very well while serving as lieutenant governor for the eight years of Jerry Brown’s final two terms as governor.

Being the state’s nominal No. 2 gave Newsom some visibility while he awaited Brown’s departure, after which he easily whipped all rivals in both major parties when he finally got to run for Brown’s office.

But what happens next for Newsom if he doesn’t run for president in 2024, as he’s apparently promised the two most likely Democratic candidates for this country’s top political job?

Whether Biden or Harris or a Republican like ex-President Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wins the presidency next time out, Newsom could face serious downtime, especially while termed out as

governor from 2026 through early 2028, thus losing the political limelight — unless he goes after Feinstein’s Senate seat.

With all his likely 2028 Democratic presidential rivals already holding offices of their own, Newsom would need a constant spotlight to remain a leading candidate while out of office.

This is something Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president for four years, faces right now, along with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other Republicans who plainly want to be president, but for now are settling for writing books and hoping Trump and DeSantis somehow self-destruct before 2024.

For sure, Trump has the potential to wreck himself. He lately has possessed something like political Velcro, rather than Teflon, as just about everything sticks to him.

But Biden appears unlikely to self-immolate. His gaffes are invariably forgiven by media and voters, possibly

LettersYou can help the fight against antisemitism

As many national news organizations have already reported, our 45th president recently sat down to a friendly dinner with an openly antisemitic rapper and a prominent white nationalist Holocaust denier. Although it reads like the opening to a bad joke, it’s sadly not a farce.

Why would the Board of your local synagogue reach out publicly to discuss the issue, given that national news media has already thrown light on the dubious meeting, and condemnation has been swift from across the political spectrum?

That known antisemites can openly meet with a viable 2024 candidate for president highlights just how far we’ve strayed from the days when a national leader was disqualified for so much less. This reflects a larger cultural escalation in the creation and tolerance of antisemitic rhetoric; we’ve observed it close to

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Locally owned and operated since 1897

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Official legal newspaper of general circulation for the city of Davis and county of Yolo. Published in The Davis Enterprise building, 325 G St., Davis, CA. Mailing address: P.O. Box 1470, Davis, CA 95617. Phone: 530-756-0800. An award-winning newspaper of the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

Speak out President

because of a lifelong history of malaprops.

So Newsom will have to decide, if he really sits out 2024, what he’ll do to set himself up as the Democratic frontrunner for 2028, his seeming target year.

Yes, he could write a book, but it probably could only be about his California experiences, since unlike Pence and Pompeo, he’s never held high federal office. This could make a Senate run the answer for Newsom. If he chooses that, he can expect plenty of competition in his own party. Start with Burbank Congressman Adam Schiff, who became prominent while ramrodding both impeachments of Trump. Republican leaders in Congress now are helping keep a spotlight on Schiff even as he moves into the minority, intending to take away his seat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Schiff has major senatorial support among California Democrats, but has never run statewide. So there’s room for other contenders like Xavier Becerra, the current secretary of Health and Human Services who twice won election as California’s attorney general after a long career in Congress.

Orange County Congresswoman Katie Porter, who barely won reelection last fall

home in our schools, on campus and on our freeway overpass.

We, as your Jewish friends and colleagues, ask you and your families to notice with us how insidiously antisemitism gains a foothold in mainstream America. If you see or hear something promoting hate towards Jews (or any other minority group), please don’t shrug it off … you can act. Take a photo and report it both to local law enforcement and the Anti-Defamation League at www.adl.org/reportincident. (Remember not to engage directly with extremists if you encounter them in public distributing propaganda or engaging in other hateful conduct.

Elisabeth Dubin and Robin Kulakow Co-Presidents on behalf of the Board of Directors of Congregation Bet Haverim

Downtown transitions

On Tuesday, Dec. 22, the City Council approved the Downtown Specific Plan. For the most part it is an excellent effort to add predictability through a “form based” plan and code. Transitions are a part of the

202-224-3553; email: padilla.senate. gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me

House of Representatives

in a redrawn district, might figure she has a better shot at the Senate than winning reelection repeatedly in her now-largely-Republican part of the OC.

There’s also Shirley Weber, to whom Newsom tossed the bone of the secretary of state’s office in 2021, when he named Alex Padilla to the Senate seat Harris once held. Weber and some other Black women were offended when the Harris seat did not go to another Black woman, and she might seek to remedy that with her own run for Feinstein’s spot. There are also San Francisco Bay area Reps. Barbara Lee and Ro Khanna, both with longtime delusions of grandeur.

And there are mayors like Eric Garcetti, for 10 years the top official in Los Angeles, and London Breed of San Francisco.

It’s doubtful any of the others can best Newsom in a primary election, no matter what they now think. Which means in next year’s tussle, the governor can call most of the shots – if he chooses.

— Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It" is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net.

planned forms. When the plan’s area jumped to the north side of Fifth Street to add the Hibbert site, it caused transition concerns.

The adjacent uses to the north and east sides of the Hibbert site are not sensitive to the new plan for five-story buildings. The adjacent small single-family houses on the west side, however, do justify transition measures in the form based plan and code. Staff and the consultant should be directed to come back with additional plan and code provisions for the Hibbert site to address the west side and add the intended predictability.

The General Plan’s Urban Design and Neighborhood Preservation Chapter calls for “a scale transition between intensified uses and adjoining lower intensity uses, and taller buildings should be stepped back at upper levels in areas with a smaller scale.” Specific Plans shall be consistent with the General Plan. Design guidelines commonly address these concerns. Council should demonstrate a little “balance” when promoting the “public interest.”

Craig Ellwood Davis

We welcome your letters

The Hon. Joe Biden, The White House, Washington, D.C., 20500; 202-456-1111 (comments), 202-456-1414 (switchboard); email: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact U.S. Senate

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 331 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-3841; email: http://feinstein. senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me Sen. Alex Padilla, B03 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510;

Rep. John Garamendi (3rd District), 2368 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20515; 202-225-1880.

District office: 412 G St., Davis, CA 95616; 530-753-5301; email: visit https://garamendi.house.gov/contact/ email

Governor

Gov. Gavin Newsom, State Capitol, Suite 1173, Sacramento, CA 95814; 916-4452841; email: visit https://govapps.gov. ca.gov/gov40mail/

Addresses and phone numbers should be included for verification purposes; they will not be published.

Limit letters to 350 words. Anonymous letters will not be accepted. We reserve the right to edit all letters for brevity or clarity.

Mail letters to The Davis Enterprise, P.O. Box 1470, Davis, CA 95617; bring them to 315 G St.; fax them to 530-756-1668; or email them to newsroom@davis enterprise.net.

Pearls Before Swine

By Stephan Pastis

Classic Peanuts

By Charles M. Schulz

Pearls Before Swine

By Stephan Pastis

Classic Peanuts

By Charles M. Schulz

Crew draft former Aggie soccer player Arfsten

Enterprise staff

Former UC Davis men’s soccer player Maximilian Arfsten was selected 14th overall by the Columbus Crew Wednesday at the Major League Soccer SuperDraft.

Arfsten played for the Aggies in 2019 and 2021. He becomes the sixth player in program history to be drafted by an MLS team and fourth in the last five years.

Arfsten joins an elite list of Aggie professionals that includes Nabi Kibunguchy (2021), drafted by Minnesota United FC, Wallis Lapsley (2020) and Roy Boateng (2019), each drafted by the New York Red Bulls, Quincy Amarikwa (San Jose Earthquakes, 2009) and Ryan Shaw (Los Angeles Galaxy, 2005).

Arfsten became the second Aggie to be named the Big West Conference Offensive Player of the Year when he earned the top honor after his sophomore season in 2021.

The 6-foot-1 forward paced UCD with 23 points on eight goals and seven assists in 20 games played.

After the 2021 campaign, the Fresno native played for the Earthquakes II squad in MLS NEXT Pro action, where he appeared in 24 matches with 21 starts

and scored nine goals and handed out six assists, while firing off 45 shots.

The Crew finished the 2022 season eighth overall in the Eastern Conference with 46 points, just missing out on the seventh and final playoff spot.

49ers playoff tickets

After officially clinching the NFC West in Week 15 with a win in Seattle, the San Francisco 49ers will host at least one home playoff game at Levi’s Stadium.

The team’s NFC Wild Card Round game will be the first playoff game at Levi’s Stadium since the 2019 NFC Championship victory.

Tickets are now on sale for all upcoming and potential 49ers playoff games.

Due to limited supply, fans are encouraged to purchase tickets before they sell out.

To view ticket options and packages and more information, fans can visit www.49ers.com/tickets.

Purchased tickets for games that do not occur — NFC Divisional and NFC Championship — will be refunded at the total amount paid.

SOAR: Dixon Tournament next week

From Page B6

second quarter.

Davis came into the contest with a plan to protect the basketball more.

But the Falcons’ fast and aggressive play set the tone for their win.

“We needed to move quickly in our half-court defense,” Highshoe said. “Lately, we’ve been played pretty solid defense. We just need to continue to learn to value the basketball on the offensive end and defensive end.”

Hunter finished the game with 20 points. Harmon followed with 15 and Foster eight.

Blue Devil forward Jiana Trotman had seven points in the game Noelani Castillo and Merchant had four points each, Natalie Roessler two, Malia Abrenica and Malia Abrenica had two each and Williams and Izzy Cherry had one each.

Davis continues its preseason schedule at the Dixon Tournament, which starts Wednesday and runs through Friday.

The Blue Devils will start against Chico on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

Then Davis will host Vacaville in a non-league game on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m.

The Blue Devils start Delta League action on Friday, Jan. 6 at Pleasant Grove of Elk Grove.

Davis will host St. Francis in its first league home game on Tuesday. Jan. 10.

— Contact Mike Bush at mike@davisenterprise. net. Follow on Twitter: @ MBDavisSports.

Leroy yaU/UC Davis athLetiCs-CoUrtesy photo

Former UC Davis men’s soccer player Maximilian Arsten in action during the 2021 season.

Blue Devils guard Malia Abrenica eyes the basket while Christian Brothers guard Aleyah Harmon (5) makes an attempt to block Abrenica’s shot in their teams’ non-league game on Wednesday. DHS center Tessa Schouten (11) is in the background. The Blue Devils enter the Dixon Tournament next week with a 3-6 record. After one more non-league game, DHS open Delta League action in early January.

Mike BUsh/enterprise photo

Football

UC Davis welcomes 12 newcomers to program

Enterprise staff

The UC Davis football program inked 12 prospective student-athletes to National Letters of Intent on the Early Period of National Signing Day, head coach Dan Hawkins announced on Wednesday.

“I am excited to welcome these young men to the Davis experience,” Hawkins said. “I love the overall balance of their play on the field and the people they are off it.

“This is a very athletic group that we are all looking forward to having on campus and starting their journeys as an Aggie.”

The December NLI class is comprised of linebacker Nick Afato from Yuba City High, Modesto Junior College transfer tight end Holden Baldwin and Rancho Cotate High standout offensive lineman Malik Cleveland.

The lone out-of-state signee in the Early Signing Period for the Aggies was

record-breaking running back Jordan Fisher from Westview High School in Portland, Ore.

Also joining the Aggies is versatile defensive back William Fowler IV from Washington Union High School of Fresno, defensive back Devon Gusta from Grand Terrace High School, Archbishop Riordan wide receiver Zachary Jones, fellow wide receiver Robbie Mascheroni from Campolindo High School of Moraga, Corona Del Mar signal-caller David Rasor and a trio of offensive linemen in Izaiah Souriolle of Chaparral High School of Temecula, Matthew Staycer of Torrey Pines High of Encinitas and Cristian Viola of Crean Lutheran High in Irvine.

The Aggies open the 2023 season at Texas A&M — Commerce on Aug. 31.

Then UCD will play its first home game against Southern Utah University on Sept. 16.

basketball

Bruins too much for Aggie men in SoCal

Enterprise staff

LOS ANGELES — UC Davis put up a fight early, but in the end, UCLA demonstrated why it’s the ninth-ranked men’s basketball team in the nation with a convincing 81-54 non-conference win Wednesday afternoon before a holiday crowd of 7,421 in historic Pauley Pavilion on the Westwood campus.

UCLA is now 11-2 after its eighth straight win. The Aggies fall to 7-5 in their final non-conference game before Big West play begins Dec. 29 at Hawaii.

A stout Aggie defense kept the Bruin offense off balance in the early going as the Aggies twice built a four-point lead — the last time at 11-7 — and maintained their advantage throughout the opening nine minutes.

“I loved our fight early on and our physicality, but that’s a really good basketball team we were playing,” said Aggie head coach Jim Les.

“We played well with a great team for long stretches, but against a team like that you almost have to be perfect. We executed well at times and overall it was a good experience for us.”

Christian Anigwe scored twice from inside to give the Aggies an early 4-2 lead, then T.Y. Johnson had a pair of baskets and Robby Beasley added a 3-pointer for an 11-7 advantage before the Bruins responded with a 10-0 burst to take the lead for good.

“They are an impressive group,” said Les of the Bruins.

“They are so long on defense that passes we would normally make, they just swallowed up. They share and they defend and they were really ignited by their defense.”

There’s no question the Bruins hope to be cutting down the nets at the end of March Madness after reaching the Final Four in 2021 and the Sweet Sixteen last season.

The oddsmakers pegged the Bruins as 24-point favorites and almost hit this one on the nose as UCLA played nearly flawless basketball at times to forge a 33-21 halftime lead and led by as many 29 points near the end.

The Bruins pride themselves on mistake-free basketball, and entered the game having committed fewer turnovers than their opponents in all 12 of their previous games this season.

They easily kept that streak alive Wednesday afternoon, committing just 10 turnovers to 19 for the Aggies.

Jaylen Clark, a homegrown Southern Californian, was a dominant force all afternoon for the Bruins, leading everyone on the court with 18 points and 11 rebounds, and adding three assists and two steals.

Eliah Pepper had 16 points for UCD, with Beasley hitting four 3-pointers to finish with 14 points, while Johnson added 13.

Added Les, “I saw some things I liked and some things we have to improve. Right now, I want everyone to take a couple of days off and have a blessed and Merry Christmas and then we’ll get back to work.”

After the trip to Hawaii, the Aggies come home for the first time in the New Year on Thursday, Jan. 5 for a 6 p.m. against UC Irvine.

UC Davis will have game at the University Credit Union Center against Big West foe CSU Bakersfield on Saturday, Jan. 7.

Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.

Falcons soar past Blue Devils

By Mike Bush Enterprise sports editor

SACRAMENTO — Davis High girls basketball head coach Heather Highshoe was proud of her team’s second-half performance in Wednesday’s non-league game against Christian Brothers.

But the host Falcons soared in the first half. That led to Christian Brothers recording a 70-41 victory over Davis inside Ron Limeberger Gym.

Davis (3-6) outscored Christian Brothers (8-0) by a 33-31 margin in the final 16 minutes of the contest.

The Blue Devils edged the Falcons 19-17 in the third quarter and both teams were even 14-14 in the final eight minutes.

“I thought we played a strong second half,” Highshoe said. “We implemented a new full-court

defense that I thought we executed well.”

Blue Devil center Tessa Schouten, a junior, had a doubledouble in the game. She scored 14 of her team-high 18 points in the second half. Schouten had 11 rebounds, with six on offense and five on defense.

“Tessa had a strong third quarter for us, capitalizing on offensive rebounds and making plays in the full court,” said Highshoe of Schouten, who stands 6-foot-2. “She had a dominate performance in the paint.”

Blue Devil guards Vidya Merchant and Kiera Williams, both sophomores, had four points each in the second half.

Those were Davis’ highlights in the second half.

Christian Brothers dominated the Blue Devils in the first half.

At halftime, the Falcons soared

to a 39-8 lead.

Three Christain Brothers players in guard Jada Hunter, Aleyah Harmon and forward Kaia Foster, all of whom are the team captains, combined for 24 points. The trio’s shots ranged from the arc to inside the paint, mostly after their teammates forced the Blue Devils into many turnovers.

“Our 25 or so turnovers and allowing for Christain Brothers to grab 10-plus offensive rebounds,” Highshoe said. “We needed to value the basketball better on both ends of the floor.”

The Falcons had 32 rebounds, with 18 on offense and 14 on defense.

Christian Brothers jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first four minutes of the first quarter. Then its lead was cushioned to 17-2 entering the

See SOAR, Page B5

Davis forward Jiana Trotman (4) eyes the basket while trying to fend off two Christian Brothers players in Wednesday’s game inside Ron Limeberger Gym. Looking is Blue Devils guard Izzy Cherry (15).

The Blue Devils return to action in the Dixon Tournament on Wednesday.

Mike bush/enterprise File photo

UC Davis football head coach Dan Hawkins (wearing headset) talks to quarterback Trent Tompkins in a Big Sky Conference home game against Idaho State on Nov. 5.

Mike bush/enterprise photos

Davis center Tessa Schouten (11) looks to pass the basketball while two Christian Brothers players double-team her in Wednesday’s non-league game. Schouten, a junior, had a double-double in the game. To view more photos from the game, visit www.davisenterprise.com, click on the Sports tab and look for the story.