MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's basketball team fell 84-51 to Jessup University in the 2023-24 home opener on Tuesday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
Niamey Guillory led the Bobcats (1-3) with 18 points, four rebounds, and three steals.
Emily Perez scored 16 points with three three-pointers and seven made free throws. She also had two assists and two steals.
Paloma Ramirez scored five points, while Faith Mucheru and Kennedy Lain each pitched in four.
Lain, in her first career start, got a steal and score to begin the game and then Perez buried a triple a couple of possessions later but scoring was hard to come by the rest of the frame and UC Merced fell behind 18-7 after ten minutes of play.
The Bobcats were unable to score over the first four minutes of the second quarter and fell into a 29-7 hole. Perez helped cut the Bobcats deficit down to 17 points before falling further behind and trailing 40-17 at intermission.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats, the third quarter ended up being Jessup's best period and the visitors went up by as many as many as 37 points after a 13-0 run.
UC Merced managed to outscore Jessup 23-20 in the final frame supported by eleven points from Guillory and five from Ramirez. Guillory made all four of her field goal attempts in the quarter. Ramirez and Leilani Blecha splashed a triple before time expired helping lead to the Bobcats best offensive quarter.
The Bobcats 23 fourth quarter points marked the Bobcats highest scoring output in a quarter since the season opener against Wilberforce.
Jessup, who is 4-0 to start the year plus an exhibition game win over Sacramento State, was led by Andrea Jovicevic's 21 points on 89% (8-9) shooting. Makaila Napolean and Kayla Vieira tallied 12 points and six rebounds each.
The Warriors finished the night shooting 54% (30-55) from the field, 41% (5-12) from downtown and 48% (19-39) from the charity stripe.
UC Merced slashed .238/.208/.762 on the night.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will play at Fresno Pacific University on Tuesday, November 21. Tipoff from the Special Events Center in Fresno, Calif., is scheduled for 5:30pm.
