MESA, Ariz. – The University of California, Merced women's basketball team fell 65-49 to Park University Gilbert on Saturday night at the Arizona Athletic Grounds.
Despite the loss, the Bobcats (3-12, 2-6) forced 17 Park turnovers and won the rebounding battle.
Nicole Lukito broke the program's freshman double-double's record with her sixth of the year, finishing with ten points and 14 rebounds. The Fremont, Calif., native broke the previous freshman record set by Rainah Smith in 2018-19. Lukito also recorded three assists, two steals, and two blocks.
Leilani Blecha scored 13 points on 50% (3-6) shooting from beyond the arc.
Imani Johnson finished with nine points, seven rebounds, and a career-high four steals, while Emily Perez finished with eight points and three steals.
Other notables include five points and six rebounds from Niamey Guillory, and five rebounds from Sarina Nagra.
The Bobcats were forced to play catchup from the beginning as they fell behind 9-2 four minutes into the game and trailed 14-6 at the end of the first quarter.
UC Merced scored on two of their first three possessions to start the second, but soon found themselves on the wrong end of a 14-0 Park run and fell behind 28-10 with five minutes to go before intermission. A Johnson triple stopped the Bucs run and started a UC Merced half-ending 13-2 run to get back in the game, trailing by just seven points at 30-23 at halftime.
Head coach Kellie Bernard's team pulled within three points to start the third quarter and stayed within eight points for the first four and a half minutes before the Bucs were able to build their lead back to double digits. The two teams traded scores for the next three minutes with the Bucs garnering momentum late and ended the third quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 53-38 advantage.
The Bobcats trailed by 17 points with seven minutes left and gave themselves a fighting chance cutting the deficit down to 13 with four and a half minutes remaining, 59-46, but couldn't get any closer than that in the final stretch.
UC Merced finished the night shooting 30.9% from the field, 23.5% from downtown, and 73.3% from the charity stripe.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will host Westcliff University on Thursday, January 18 at 5:30pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
