SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's basketball team fell 81-58 to Dominican on Saturday afternoon inside the Conlan Center.
Leilani Blecha and Sarina Nagra led the Bobcats (4-4) efforts with 13 points each.
Blecha shot 100% (3-3) from the three-point line and recorded two steals. With her shooting, Blecha passed Cierra McClain for seventh in program history with 66 career three-pointers. Also of note, Blecha became just the eighth Bobcat to ever make at least three triples in a game without a miss. She is the first Bobcat with that success rate since November 27, 2021.
Nagra supported her second straight double-figure scoring night with five rebounds.
Mariah Flores pitched in eight points and four rebounds, while Jazzy Beltran and Nicole Lukito scored six points apiece. Lukito also hauled in seven rebounds and blocked a shot.
Other notables include a career-high seven rebounds from Sydney Corder Boyd, two steals from Jazzy Beltran, and a block from Maya Sanborn.
UC Merced committed a season-high 19 turnovers and shot just 33% from the field in the loss.
The Bobcats opened the game with a Blecha three-pointer on their opening possession and jumped out to an 11-4 lead five minutes into the game, but then the Penguins answered with a 16-1 run over the next five minutes as Dominican led 20-12 at the end of the first quarter.
Dominican's run extended into the second quarter with a three-point play to grab its first double figure lead of the day, 23-12. A little later, Dominican led 29-14 before Beltran got into a rhythm sparking a 7-0 UC Merced run highlighted by a three-pointer. Head coach Kellie Bernard's team cut the deficit to seven points at 33-26 with four minutes left in the half, however the Penguins won those final four minutes and carried a 43-30 lead into intermission.
After the two teams traded buckets to start the third quarter, Dominican surged ahead with a 15-0 run over the next five minutes to grow its lead to 27 points at 63-36. Dominican then led 63-39 heading to the fourth quarter.
With the help of Boyd, UC Merced battled back to cut the deficit to 17 points inside of five minutes. The Bobcats then pulled within 14 points, 67-53, with the help of five straight Nagra points with 3:49 to go. The Bobcats couldn't get any closer though and saw the opponent seal the win with a 12-0 run extending their lead back to 26 points with 90 seconds left.
UC Merced finished the night shooting 33% from the floor, 23% (4-17) from three-point land, and 77% from the charity stripe. The Bobcats four made triples marked a season-low.
Saturday's meeting was the first between UC Merced and Dominican since 2014.
Up next, the Bobcats visit Academy of Art for the first time in program history on Sunday, December 1. Tipoff inside Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco is scheduled for 1:00pm.
