SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's basketball team earned a 56-41 wire-to-wire road win over University of Saint Katherine on Thursday night at the USK Sports Complex.
The Bobcats (11-15, 10-9) win is their fourth straight and now a win over Westcliff in the regular season finale on Saturday would clinch a berth in the upcoming California Pacific Conference Championships.
Sarina Nagra led the Bobcats in scoring with 14 points, extending her career-best double figure scoring streak to four straight games. The freshman shot 50% (2-4) from three.
Nicole Lukito played all 40 minutes and tallied 18 rebounds, nine points, and a block. Her block was her 40th of the campaign and she becomes just the ninth player in Cal Pac history with 40 or more blocks in a season.
Paloma Ramirez finished with eight points, five rebounds, and two steals.
Leilani Blecha hit two three-pointers and recorded eight points. Imani Johnson added seven points, six rebounds, a career-high tying four steals, and three assists. Jazzy Beltran registered a career-high five assists.
Defensively, UC Merced's 41 points allowed marked the second fewest under head coach Kellie Bernard. The Bobcats limited USK to shoot just 29% from the floor and 7.7% (1-13) from downtown. Also of note, the Bobcats held the Firebirds to just six points in the third quarter.
Lukito scored five of the Bobcats first seven points in the wire-to-wire win and UC Merced led 9-6 at the first media timeout. Shortly after leading 9-8, Lukito scored again and then Nagra splashed a triple as part of a 10-2 UC Merced run to extend the lead to nine points at 19-10. Head coach Kellie Bernard's team led 21-14 after a quarter of action.
Ramirez scored four quick points in the second quarter to give the Bobcats their first double figure lead of the night at 25-14. After a USK basket, both teams were scoreless for nearly the next two and a half minutes before Niamey Guillory put the Bobcats back up by double figures. Both defenses stayed sharp the rest of the half and UC Merced led 32-23 at intermission.
Blecha got the third quarter scoring started with a three-pointer and then she made a layup a couple minutes later to put her team up 39-25. USK responded with two made field goals and held the Bobcats scoreless for over four minutes, but then Ramirez and Beltran hit back-to-back triples to push UC Merced's lead to 16 points at 45-29 entering the final frame.
UC Merced added four more points to make it a 10-0 run and built their lead to 20 points with the help of Nagra, 49-29 just over 90 seconds into the fourth quarter. USK had a 12-3 run in them over the next three minutes to keep the game alive, coming within eleven points, before the Bobcats defense buckled down for good and held USK scoreless for the final five minutes to earn the victory. Johnson and Nagra added one more basket down the stretch for the 56-41 result.
The Bobcats finished the night shooting 39% from the field, 41% (7-17) from downtown, and 75% (3-4) from the charity stripe.
Up next, UC Merced will play at Westcliff University on Saturday, February 24. The winner secures the Cal Pac's final postseason berth. Tipoff from the Jordan Lawley Facility in Irvine, Calif., is scheduled for 4:00pm.
