OAKLAND, Calif. - The University of California, Merced women's basketball team had career-high's out of multiple individuals and held Holy Names University to 23% (17-72) from the field in a dominant 79-49 win Saturday afternoon inside Tobin Gym.
The Bobcats (6-2) sixth win through an eight-game span expands upon their best start in program history.
Five Bobcats finished in double figures, including freshman Rainah Smith, who also notched her first career double-double with 14 points and a game-high ten rebounds. Smith has now grabbed at least nine rebounds in three straight games, six rebounds in six straight games.
Mia Belvin shared a game-high 14 points with Smith to mark her third straight game scoring in double figures. Belvin's solid night brought her career total to 985 points and her next chance to become the third women's basketball player in the 1, 000 point club will come on Monday at Fresno Pacific University.
Haylee Owen and Kimiko Sato each scored a career-high 13 points, while Mia Shannon added 12 points on 55% (5-9) shooting.
Shannon started the game off making her first three shots to propel the Bobcats to an early 6-1 lead just two minutes in. The lead held the entire contest and the third career three-point field goal from Sato as time expired in the first quarter gave the Bobcats a 15-9 advantage.
A pair of baskets from Belvin and Shelby Bohlmann extended the Bobcats lead to 19-9 within the first 90 seconds of the second quarter. Sato added a field goal, as did Jackson to become the fourth different Bobcat to score in a three minute stretch.
The Bobcats led by double figures for approximately eight minutes in the second quarter.
Out of the break, Belvin and the Bobcats were very efficient and scored 19 of their 24 third quarter points via the charity stripe or inside the paint. 90 seconds into the quarter, Shannon jumpstarted a 14-1 run that eventually put the Bobcats on top 52-30. Smith was stellar during the run, scoring eight of the 14 points and tallied four rebounds and a block.
The San Francisco, Calif., native also scored again at the very end of the quarter off an assist from Belvin to make it 23-point affair (60-37).
While the freshman Smith was the highlight to start the second half, it was Owen who took over and stuffed the stat sheet to end the game.
Playing all ten minutes in the 4th quarter, Owen scored ten points, hauled in three offensive rebounds and delivered an assist.
Owen's assist was on Bohlmann's bucket to give the Bobcats their largest lead of the night at 72-40 midway through the quarter. Those two points were in the middle of an 11-3 run.
The Bobcats final field goal of the night came via a second chance opportunity from Kara Kutsuris. Kutsuris grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed three-point attempt and put it back up for her first points of the season to cap off the 79-49 victory.
Ten Bobcats scored in total. Other notables include four offensive rebounds from Shannon, three assists from Alyssa Ono and steal by Deja Jackson.
The game was an exhibition for Holy Names University.
Up next, the Bobcats take on NCAA opponent Fresno Pacific University on Monday, November 26, in Fresno, Calif. Tipoff is slated for 3:30pm inside the Special Events Center.
