RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's basketball team fell 62-40 to La Sierra University on Thursday night.

Paloma Ramirez led the Bobcats (11-12, 11-7) with eleven points, eight rebounds, and a career-high three steals.

Deyliana Lewis finished with eleven rebounds, seven points, two blocks, two assists, and a steal. With her efforts, Lewis passed Brittany Martinez for ninth in program history with 629 career points and passed Kayla Polman for fifth in program history with 438 career rebounds.

Faith Mucheru and Gabby Martini pitched in nine and six points, respectively.

Other notables include four rebounds each from Mucheru and Aislyn Dora, three assists from Tiffany Nguyen, and two steals from Nia Smiley. Nguyen has dished out at three assists in three of the last four games.

UC Merced was playing without Damilola Sule tonight.

The Bobcats led 10-9 midway through the first quarter, but La Sierra surged ahead with an 11-1 run to end the period and the Bobcats were never able to recover.

The Bobcats trailed 38-22 at halftime and saw the deficit grow to 21 points five minutes into the third quarter. UC Merced attempted to climb back in, narrowing the margin down to 51-38 with eight minutes left in regulation, before eventually falling 62-40.

UC Merced snapped a season-long four-game winning streak with the loss.

A positive, UC Merced forced 20 La Sierra turnovers.

Up next, UC Merced plays at University of Antelope Valley on Saturday, February 11 at the Pioneer Event Center in Lancaster, Calif. Tipoff against the league-leading Pioneers is scheduled for 5:30pm.