Davis Has Earned Her Stripes

MSU women's basketball and volleyball
alum Vicki Davis serves as the coordinator
of women's basketball officials for the
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference

Vicki Davis admits that officiating runs in her blood.

A 1971 graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato, she owns three degrees from the school. After completing her undergraduate degree, she finished a master’s degree in 1978 that was in physical education and health, and then in 1983 she received an administration degree.

Davis’s schedule is anything, but free. Her calendar is consistent for month long periods filled with: scouting out new talent, attending NCAA clinics to relay information to coaches and officials, understanding new rules and regulations, watching and attending women’s basketball games, reviewing previous calls on games making sure they were correct and legal, and setting up meetings with coaches to discuss how the season went.

Davis first attended college the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, before transferring back closer to home to attend MSU.

She played women’s basketball for three years in Mankato, with primary position was forward center during the years of 1968-1971.

It is no surprise that her passion lies within women’s basketball.

Having been inspired by by her father, who served as a basketball official, Davis was first introduced to officiating while she was participating in practice, as the classes ran at the same time. She understood what officials were looking for and then learned the rest through listening during practice.

Her first job officiating was at a junior varsity basketball game. The coaches liked what they witnessed and then asked Davis to officiate the rest of the season.

Besides working the JV games, she also worked with volleyball and basketball at the college level. Furthermore, a great moment of her officiating career was in 1972 when she was asked to officiate the national volleyball tournament, which was held in Miami, Fla.


Davis now serves as the coordinator of women’s basketball officials for the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

“They (official) are both a part of basketball, to make basketball better together," she said when asked what she liked about the officiating profession, stressing the importance of her position in watching coaches and officials work together.


As a long-time official, Davis said she understood that one of the most important qualities an official can have is gaining the coaches trust. “Basketball is a game of trust and without being on the same page challenges can arise.”

She mentioned the difference from her past experiences in women’s basketball to her now future experiences as “night and day.” The major differences are more players on the court, and the name of women’s basketball as a whole being more respected.

“It has been fun to watch the game grow. Players need to appreciate what they have, as things can be taken away very quickly.”

“Hopefully kids are going to school to get a good education, and I worry about what the kids choose to participate in, as they should enjoy the ability to play basketball at a university, and not be forced to do so.”

Inducted into the Minnesota State Athletics in 1983, Davis served as the ssistant Athletic Director and Volleyball Coach at Hastings (Minn.) High School and served as the President of the Minnesota State girls high school coaches association.

A lasting piece of advice that she can give to college level athletes is “stay involved, and gives back to the sport. Attend games and volunteer to be a scorekeeper or timer for high school or college teams. Most importantly be a good fan, come to the alumna games and be a huge supporter to women’s basketball or any sport that you may have previously played in.”

                                    Liz Anderson, Minnesota State Athletic Communications intern

Scout Team

Minnesota State assistant coaches Amy Sander and Ketty
Paula (left) discuss a play for the Scout Team. Photo
courtesy of freshman guard Maddie Olson.

Prior to each tipoff, the Minnesota State women's basketball team spends several hours on preparation for their upcoming opponent. 

While the Mavericks are also attending classes, the hours getting ready to play games are spent watching video, rehabbing injuries, studying game plans and practicing. And a large amount of time is spent going over the upcoming opponents. 

For the past three seasons, Minnesota State has delegated a part of this task (the opponents part) to the student body in the form of the scout team. The scout team is comprised of a group of students that volunteer their time for Maverick practices. During practice, the scout team primarily learns and runs plays of upcoming Maverick opponents. Additionally, these student volunteers mimic tendencies of key players and assist with drills in practice. This season, around five to eight scout team players serve on the scout team at a given session.

Utilizing student volunteers for scout teams is a fairly common practice in collegiate women’s basketball. In her eight years as an assistant coach at the NCAA Division I level, head coach Emilee Thiesse was a member of staffs that used scout teams consistently. The same goes for her program here at Minnesota State where she incorporates a scout team with the understanding of how it benefits her team. 

“If we didn’t have a scout team, we would have to use our own players to run the opponent’s offensive schemes—which takes time from our overall preparation and also limits the number of reps that our players are actually defending the actions,” said Thiesse, who took over the Maverick program in 2012-13 after serving as an assistant coach at South Dakota State and Drake.

Though the Mavericks benefit from the scout team, the student volunteers derive enjoyment from their own service as well. “I’ve been surprised how much I miss being in a practice atmosphere,” says graduate sport management student Zach Miner. Along with the atmosphere, Miner enjoys the exercise, intentional teaching moments, and the opportunity to play his favorite sport competitively. With these benefits, a common theme underlies the main motivation of the scout team players—to help the Mavericks improve. Engineering student D’Ante Ross affirms, “I just love helping out the team.”

The value of having students volunteer on the scout team is not lost on Maverick players and coaching staff. “We're grateful for the scout team dedicating their time and effort to make our players compete to the best of their ability” said graduate assistant Kelsey Little. Coach Thiesse added, “Our players appreciate them very much. They understand the commitment that the scout team is making on a volunteer basis and that [the scout team volunteers] are committing to the grind of practices without the reward of the games.”

In the past, the Maverick women’s basketball coaching staff has relied on word of mouth to assemble student volunteers. Minnesota State students with previous playing experience and some schedule flexibility are encouraged to give it a shot. If Minnesota State students are interested in potentially volunteering on the scout team, they can contact assistant coaches Ketty Paula or Amy Sander. 

                                                                            Contributed by Tyler Hajek, Minnesota State Athletic Communications intern

Davis Uniquely Making a Name for Herself

Minnesota State senior guard
Aubrey Davis (left) spent time in Tanzania
last summer as part of her academic
program

Suffice it to say Minnesota State women’s basketball guard Aubrey Davis has made quite the impact during her time with the Mavericks, both in the record books and also off the court.

In her first season, Davis quickly made her presence known, as she earned 2011-12 Northern Sun All-Freshman Team honors. Her sophomore year she continued this trend, as she was rewarded with 2012-13 NSIC Second Team honors. As a senior in 2014-15 year, her final year, Davis is showing that veteran leadership through her actions on and off the court.

The Bloomington, Minn., native is leading the Mavericks in points per game (13.7), assists per game (4.6) and steals per game (1.8). Davis is also not only leading the Purple and Gold in three-point field goal percentage, but the NSIC as well, shooting 44% (50-113). To add on to that, Davis currently ranks second in assists per game and sixth in steals per game in the conference.

“Aubrey does so much for our team both in her leadership and in her ability to make plays,” mentions MSU women’s basketball coach Emilee Thiesse. “She has an uncanny ability to set-up her teammates, create offense for herself, control the pace and the flow of the game, and bring a great defensive presence to the court.”

Off the court, Davis is double majoring in exercise science and psychology, to hope one day aspire to become an occupational therapist. This past offseason, Davis took a trip to the third world country of Tanzania to work in some clinics. While she was there, she would help the patrons with their medical needs and in the end it helped her gain real world experience in the field.

She heard about the opportunity through an old teammate of hers here at MSU in Ali Hoefer, who a couple of years ago took a trip to Ghana and gained a similar experience. The program they worked for is called “Work the World”, where it provides internships for a variety of medical fields, such as occupational therapy, dentistry, radiology, etc.

Overall it was a whirlwind experience for Davis, where at one point she had to help deliver a baby. She mentions it was one of the crazier things she had to do in Tanzania and while spending time in East Africa last summer, it has completely changed the soon to be graduate’s perspective on everything. “It really showed that I can’t take anything for granted and it really changed my work ethic in both basketball and in life,” Davis states.

That work ethic over her career is sure paying off in Davis’ final season. Aubrey became the 20th member in Minnesota State women's basketball history to reach the 1,000 point milestone.

Aubrey has also crept her way into the top ten lists of a couple of other categories at Minnesota State, currently ranking fourth in career three-pointers made (177), sixth in career assists (379) and fifth in career free-throws made (317).

A unique package, Davis is the only player in the history of the Minnesota State women's basketball program to have scored at least 1,000 points, dish out at least 375 assists, make at least 175 three-pointers and 300 free throws.

Davis plans on attending graduate school following her four years as a Maverick, at a school to be determined while studying occupational therapy.

In the meantime, she and the rest of her Maverick teammates have some unfinished business and that’s the postseason. MSU is hoping to make it to the NCAA tournament this year, which would mark the third time out of the last four years the team went dancing. So the career numbers for Davis will only keep on increasing as the MSU women’s basketball team is not done yet, with the NSIC tournament near the horizon and a berth to NCAA Division II tournament looming. 

Contributed by Alex Brendel, Athletic Communications graduate assistant