VALLEJO, Calif. - The University of California, Merced women's basketball team tied its season-long winning streak and clinched a berth in the 2020 California Pacific Conference Championship Tournament by beating Cal Maritime 79-57 Saturday night inside the Physical Education Center.
The win parlayed with a Benedictine University Mesa loss means the Bobcats will head to the postseason for the sixth consecutive season and will travel to Prescott, Ariz., for the tournament scheduled to run February 29-March 2. The tournament berth extends what is already the longest active postseason streak in the Cal Pac.
The Bobcats (14-11, 8-4) led by as many as 39 points and have swept the home and away series with Cal Maritime five consecutive seasons. Overall, the Bobcats have won eleven straight against the opponent. Both streaks are good for the best in the Cal Pac and one of the eleven wins came in the 2015-16 conference championship game.
The 22-point win was the Bobcats third straight, second by 20+ points, and head coach Sarah Hopkins-Chery's team is three games over .500 for the first time this season. This marks the fourth straight year in which the Bobcats are three games over .500 through 25 games. University of Antelope Valley is the only other team in the conference with that streak.
Prior to last night, UC Merced had only won back-to-back conference games by 20+ points once in program history and that first time came in January of 2017.
UC Merced shot a season-high 54.5% (30-55) from the floor and it is the highest percentage since November 4, 2018 against University of Saint Katherine. The Bobcats shot 60% in that game and eclipsed the century mark for the first time in program-history.
In true road games, the 54.5% mark is the highest in program history and one of just two occasions in which the Bobcats shot over 50% from the floor. The other time was at La Sierra University last year. The Bobcats 79 points is also a season-high and the most in a road win since that same La Sierra game.
Mia Belvin led all scorers with 20 points on Saturday night and is now the only NAIA player in the Cal Pac and on the West Coast (321 players) to score at least 20 points in five straight conference games this year. The streak is also good for the best in program history. It took Belvin just nine shots to do so against Cal Maritime and she also was good four rebounds and two steals. During her five-game streak, Belvin is shooting 52% (43-83) from the floor, 42% (11-26) from downtown and 85% (17-20) from the foul line.
Haylee Owen added 17 points on 80% (8-10) shooting for her fifth straight double figure scoring effort. It is her longest career Cal Pac streak and with it she passed Christina Castro for fifth all-time on the program's single-season scoring chart. Owen, who has 398 points this year overall, is on track to move into the fourth spot by the end of the season.
Owen also led all players with five assists and neared her career-high with four steals. Owen also jumped up on those respective single-season charts as she is now eighth with 83 assists and shares the eleventh spot with Alexis Wu with 53 steals.
Deyliana Lewis and Andrea Rogers were good for ten points each and combined to shoot 77% (10-13) from the floor. Rogers' scoring effort is a career-high and her three offensive rebounds tied her career-high. The freshman grabbed five rebounds overall and has done so for the second straight game after accomplishing that feat just once in her first 15 games.
Lewis pitched in three assists, her highest total since January 16 and is the second player on the Bobcats with 40+ assists this year.
Rainah Smith was good for six points, six rebounds and two steals. Gabriella Edmond knocked down two triples and recorded a steal.
The Bobcats only trailed for the games first two minutes and took the lead for good when Owen scored four straight points to go up 4-3.
An 11-0 run over the final four minutes of the first quarter had the Bobcats sitting pretty up 24-10. Lewis started the run with a putback and Belvin highlighted the surge with five points, including a corner triple off a Lewis assist. Owen had four points, an assist and a steal in the same span. The 24-10 lead marked the Bobcats second double figure advantage after ten minutes of play in two of the last five games and five of the last nine.
The 11-0 run turned into a 15-0 run as the Bobcats scored the first four points in the second quarter. Midway through the frame, Edmond knocked down a triple at the top of the arc to garner the first 20+ point lead of the night at 33-12. Edmond hit another three a possession later to go up 36-13. The two teams then traded buckets leading up to intermission and the Bobcats carried a 44-20 lead into the locker room.
UC Merced shot 64% (18-28) in the first half compared to Cal Maritime's 27% (7-26). The Bobcats also forced 12 turnovers.
The Bobcats kept their foot on the gas pedal in the third quarter and a 7-0 run put the Bobcats up by 30 points, 56-26 just over five minutes in. Owen and Rogers combined for the seven points and both of Rogers' baskets came off Cal Maritime turnovers.
Belvin took over the final four minutes of the quarter as the Bobcats extended their lead to a game-high 39 points at 69-30, marking the biggest lead in any Cal Pac road game in program history.
The lead decreased slowly throughout the fourth quarter as Cal Maritime got to the charity stripe more times in those ten minutes alone than the Bobcats had the entire game. The Keelhaulers hit their first six foul shots and ten of 13 overall in the frame.
The Bobcats lead was down to 69-40 less than two minutes in and down to 75-50 a little past the midway point. Lewis made a couple foul shots to get up by 27 but the Bobcats couldn't get the lead back to 30 the rest of the way. Instead, Cal Maritime finished the game on a 7-2 run in the final two minutes to make the final 79-57.
Nine of the eleven Bobcats that took the floor scored and seven of those nine made multiple field goals. Only seven Keelhaulers scored.
Other notables include scoring 34 points off 24 Keelhauler turnovers and limiting the home team to just 15% (3-19) from the three-point land.
Up next, the Bobcats visit the conference's current No. 1 seed and the 23rd-ranked University of Antelope Valley Pioneers on Thursday, February 20 in Lancaster, Calif. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30pm inside the Pioneer Event Center.
