IRVINE, Calif. - The University of California, Merced women's basketball team fell 57-48 to Westcliff University on Friday night at the Jordan Lawley Facility.

Deyliana Lewis led the Bobcats (3-7, 3-2) with 16 points and tied her career-high with 15 rebounds on her way to her third double-double of the season. Lewis joins current teammate Damilola Sule as the only two Bobcats in program history with 15+ rebounds multiple times in the same season. Lewis also had two blocks, two assists, and a steal.

Tiffany Nguyen scored eleven points and grabbed four rebounds, while Paloma Ramirez and Sule finished with eight and seven points, respectively. Sule also had nine rebounds and a block in the setback. Victoria Farris pitched in three points and two assists.

UC Merced was held without a field goal for the first quarter and trailed 18-4 after ten minutes of play.  Nguyen snapped the skid with a bucket on the Bobcats second possession of the second quarter. Nguyen followed with a three-pointer a couple minutes later, but the Bobcats were unable to build on it and found themselves down 35-19 at intermission.

The Bobcats deficit was between 13 and 17 points up until the final 90 seconds of the third quarter when Westcliff ended the period on an 8-2 run to extend their advantage to a then game-high 19 points.

The Bobcats trailed by 21 before putting together their best basketball of the night, an 18-6 run leading up to the final horn to cut the deficit to nine points. Ramirez and Sule combined for ten of the Bobcats 18 points during the surge. Ramirez scored the last five points for the Bobcats, including a triple to extend her three-point streak to seven consecutive games.

UC Merced finished the night shooting 28% (14-51) from the field and 64% (18-28) from the foul line. 

Defensively, the Bobcats held Westcliff to just a 32% (23-73) shooting mark. The Bobcats won the turnover battle, forcing eleven Warrior turnovers while committing just ten. The Bobcats ten turnovers were the second fewest in a game this season. 

Friday night's match was a rematch of the 2022 California Pacific Conference Tournament Championship.

Up next, UC Merced will play Pacific Union College at home on Tuesday, December 20 at 3:30pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.