VALLEJO, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's basketball team earned a 79-69 win at Cal Maritime in the California Pacific Conference opener on Thursday night.
With the win, the Bobcats (7-8, 1-0) extended their winning streak to a season-long three games. Also of note, the Bobcats have now started 1-0 in Cal Pac play in nine of the last ten seasons.
Nicole Lukito tied her career-high with 27 points while hauling in 17 rebounds for her fifth consecutive double-double. It was her 12th double-double of the season overall and her third 20-point outing. She shot 61% (8-13) from the field, including connecting on her only three-point attempt, and converted 100% (10-10) of her attempts at the charity stripe. Lukito is just the third Bobcat in program history and first since November 10, 2018, to accomplish that feat.
Mariah Flores turned in 18 points in her first career Cal Pac game, shooting 70% from the floor and 100% (3-3) from downtown. Flores, who was also perfect from beyond the arc a game ago, has now made six straight three-pointers. The freshman also pitched in four rebounds and three assists.
Megan Williams registered a UC Merced career-high 16 points to go along with three boards and a steal. Thursday marked her second straight start and second straight double-digit scoring game.
Paloma Ramirez filled the stat sheet with eight points, a season-high tying nine rebounds, and four assists.
Other notables include five points and a block from Leilani Blecha, four rebounds and two steals from Elise LeBeau, and two steals from Sarina Nagra.
As a team, UC Merced forced 20 turnovers but committed a season-high 24. The 20 forced turnovers marked the second most of the campaign.
The Bobcats outrebounded the Keelhaulers 49-31.
UC Merced got out to a 10-5 lead midway through the first quarter before Cal Maritime followed with five unanswered points to pull even. Lukito, who finished with ten points without a miss in the first quarter, scored the next two baskets for the Bobcats who led 14-12 after ten minutes of play.
Williams had a good start to the second quarter with four straight points to give the Bobcats their first six-point lead of the night, 18-12. However, the Keelhaulers responded with an 11-3 run over the next four and a half minutes to take what would be their only lead of the night. Tied 26-26 shortly after, Williams got going again and she sparked an 11-2 quarter-ending run. She had six points in the spurt to give her squad a 37-28 lead at halftime.
Head coach Kellie Bernard's team continued its run into the third quarter, extending the run to 18-4 to go up by a game-high 14 points at 44-30 just two minutes in. The lead was cut down to two possessions at the midway point of the frame before getting back to a nine-point advantage going into the fourth quarter, 58-49. Lukito recorded eight points and ten rebounds in the third quarter alone.
The Bobcats fought off a valiant Cal Maritime effort in the fourth as the Keelhaulers pulled within two possessions twice in the first five minutes. Then, Williams was a key part of giving the Bobcats a 69-60 lead inside of four minutes but the home team stayed with it and cut UC Merced's lead down to 69-66 with 2:21 remaining.
With two minutes left and clinging to the three-point lead, Ramirez grabbed an offensive rebound and a Keelhauler ended up committing a foul on Lukito. The Keelhauler was also hit with a technical foul, giving the Bobcats four total free throws between the common foul and technical. Lukito sunk all four as part of her 10-10 night to put the Bobcats up 73-66. Lukito followed with a three-pointer 20 seconds later and it was 76-66 UC Merced in front with 1:37 left. The 7-0 Lukito run proved to be the difference maker as the Bobcats ended the game with a 79-69 victory.
UC Merced finished the night shooting 44% from the floor, 31% from downtown, and 80% from the charity stripe.
With the latest win, UC Merced has beat Cal Maritime in 18 consecutive games.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will host Pacific Union College on Saturday, January 18 at 6:30pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
