MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's basketball team earned a dynamic 87-43 win over Nobel University on Saturday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
The Bobcats (5-8) recorded multiple Bernard era records, including its 44-point margin of victory. UC Merced also finished with a Bernard era best .508 field goal percentage, an .889 free throw percentage, and put together a big effort on defense limiting the Knights to a Bernard era low .222 field goal percentage.
The Bobcats were led by Sarina Nagra's career-high 29 points and Nicole Lukito's third straight double-double.
Nagra reached 29 points with an impressive shooting slash of .642/.625/.857. Nagra, the first Bobcat with 29 points since Damilola Sule (2/2/2023), also added three rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal.
Lukito finished with 12 points and eleven rebounds in her tenth double-double of the season. It marked the 23rd of her career, putting her in sole possession of fifth on the California Pacific Conference's all-time double-double's chart. She passed Alexsis Brown (Cal Maritime/2019-12) and Alexis Davis (La Sierra/2015-19). Lukito supported her double-double with four assists and two steals. She made six of her eight shots.
Paloma Ramirez recorded eight points, seven rebounds, and a career-high five assists.
Other notables include eight points from Leilani Blecha, seven points from Gabby Martini, and six each from Megan Williams and Quinn Godfrey. Williams and Godfrey also grabbed six rebounds and five rebounds off the bench, respectively. Elise LeBeau contributed four assists, four rebounds, and two steals.
The Bobcats 87 points marked the second highest scoring output of the year, while the 23 assists tied the season-high. UC Merced also held a +24 advantage on the glass and forced 13 turnovers.
Nagra scored the game's first five points and the Bobcats jumped out to a 9-2 lead five minutes into the night. After a 5-0 Nobel spurt, the Bobcats followed with a 9-1 first quarter ending run and led 17-8. The Bobcats held Nobel to just one field in the first frame, while five different Bobcats made at least one basket.
Mariah Flores gave the Bobcats their first double digit lead with an early second quarter three-pointer it sparked a 15-3 run stretching the next six minutes. The run put the Bobcats up by 19 points, 32-13, and saw Nagra bury two triples. Just before halftime buzzer, Nagra was fouled on a 30-footer buzzer-beating attempt and sunk all three of her free throws as UC Merced led 37-17 at intermission. The 20-point lead was the biggest of the first half.
UC Merced scored a game-high 28 points in the third quarter and outscored Nobel 28-13 to run away with the game. Blecha splashed a triple and then Ramirez and Nagra combined to score the Bobcats next eleven points on the way to a 30-point advantage, 53-23 midway through the period. Later on, a Martini triple upped the Bobcats lead to 61-28 and then Godfrey fed Williams underneath the basket just before the buzzer for a score and a 65-30 lead. The Bobcats shot 73% (8-11) overall and 60% (3-5) from three-point range in the quarter.
Bernard's squad started the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run capped by a Blecha triple to grab their first 40-point lead. After trading buckets with Nobel, the Bobcats closed the game on another 9-2 run to complete the biggest margin of victory in program history with its 87-43 win.
Prior to Saturday, the Bobcats biggest margin of victory was 34 points.
UC Merced's 43 points allowed marked a season-best. The Bobcats held Nobel to just four triples and a .129 three-point field goal percentage.
With the win, the Bobcats snapped a five-game losing streak.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will host Stanton University for the first time in program history on Friday, January 10, at 7:30pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
