SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The University of California, Merced women's basketball team couldn't answer a late UC Santa Cruz surge and fell 64-54 to the Banana Slugs Friday night at the West Field House.

The Bobcats (6-6) loss snapped a two-game road winning streak and a two-game winning streak overall. UC Merced led by as many 12 points early in the third quarter and was in front going into the fourth but was outscored 23-10 by the Slugs the rest of the way in defeat. 

Cierra McClain led the Bobcats with 12 points, while Rainah Smith and Haylee Owen poured in nine points each. The majority of Smith and Owen's points came at the charity stripe as the duo combined to make eleven of 16 foul shots. Smith also grabbed six rebounds and notched her second straight multi-steal game. Smith has at least one steal in nine consecutive games dating back to November 3.

Both Smith and McClain moved up the program record books. Smith passed Brittany Martinez for eighth on the program's all-time scoring list with 631 career points and also passed three Bobcats for fifth on the all-time list with 101 career steals. McClain passed Shelby Bohlmann for seventh all-time with 53 career three-point makes.

Andrea Rogers stuffed the stat sheet Friday night with a career-high 12 rebounds to go along with eight points, two blocks and two steals. It bested her previous career-high of eleven rebounds set on February 22, 2020. Her two blocks marked a season-high.

Damilola Sule was the Bobcats top bench contributor with five rebounds and a pair of steals. 

UC Santa Cruz was led by returning All-American Athletic Collegiate Association First Team honoree Ashley Kowack's 18 points and nine rebounds. Last season, Kowack's 17 PPG was the second highest scoring mark in UC Santa Cruz history.

The Bobcats did a solid job defending Kowak early and back-to-back scores on the offensive end jumpstarted head coach Sarah Hopkins-Chery's team. A McClain triple put the Bobcats up 7-2 less than three minutes in and an Owen foul shot soon after added a point to the advantage. However, UC Santa Cruz responded with a 12-3 run and the Bobcats found themselves trailing by three points at the end of the first quarter.

Sule started the second quarter with a three-point play to tie the game at 14. Soon after trailing 19-14, Smith buried a triple and then assisted a Rogers basket down low to pull even once again. The Bobcats then broke a 22-22 tie when Owen earned another trip to the charity stripe. Owen's foul shots came amidst a 10-0 run that put the Bobcats up 29-22 a minute before intermission. The Bobcats led 31-26 at halftime, their third straight game carrying the lead into the locker rooms.

UC Merced came out hot in the third quarter with five straight points from McClain followed by an Owen jumper which built the advantage to 38-26 less than two minutes in. The lead was the biggest of the night for the Bobcats. The Bobcats lead slowly shrunk as the third quarter went on and was just two points at the 39-37 mark but did manage to take a 44-41 lead into the final frame thanks to a Madison Hotchkiss triple.

It was all UC Santa Cruz in the fourth quarter. They scored the first 14 points over the first four minutes to take a double figure lead and they led by at least eight points the remainder of the game. Although the Bobcats converted eight of their 12 free throws, they were limited to just one field goal and it was an Owen basket in the game's final 20 seconds. The Bobcats biggest deficit was 14 points, 64-50 with 38 seconds left.

UC Merced finished the night shooting 30% (18-60) from the floor, 15% (4-27) from beyond the arc and 67% (14-21) from the charity stripe. UC Santa Cruz also shot under 40%, finishing with a 37% (21-57) field goal percentage. 

Friday night was the Bobcats first game since November 11, 2019  in which both teams held a double figure lead. The Bobcats overcame a double figure deficit against Life Pacific in that one to win it.

Friday was just the third meeting all-time between these two teams. UC Santa Cruz is 3-0 in the series.

Looking ahead, UC Merced travels to Reno for an exhibition matchup with the Nevada Wolfpack inside the Lawlor Events Center on Tuesday, December 7 at 6:30pm. The regular season continues against Oregon Tech at the Keelhauler Classic in Vallejo, Calif. on Friday, December 10. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00pm at the PEAC Main Gym on the campus of Cal Maritime.