ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The University of California, Merced women's basketball team fell 93-80 to 17th-ranked Alaska Anchorage on Friday night inside Alaska Airlines Center.
The Bobcats fell to 3-2 overall while the Seawolves remained perfect in the early season improving to 6-0.
Paloma Ramirez led five Bobcats in double figures with 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block.
Jazzy Beltran scored a season-high 14 points and tallied a career-high six assists. She shot 71% (5-7) from the field and 66% (2-3) from downtown. She also made both her foul shots.
Nicole Lukito and Mariah Flores added 13 points each and Sarina Nagra pitched in ten.
Quinn Godfrey earned her second career start and hauled in ten rebounds to go along with six points and four assists. Elise LeBeau dished out three assists.
As a team, UC Merced tallied a season-high 21 assists to help score the season-high 80 points. The Bobcats also committed a season-low ten turnovers despite the loss.
Alaska Anchorage gained control early on and led 19-3 six minutes into the game. The Seawolves scored 12 unanswered points in the run and held the Bobcats without a field goal for more than five minutes. Nagra got the Bobcats rolling towards the end of the first quarter and led UC Merced on an 11-4 mini-run to get within ten points, 23-14. She had seven of the Bobcats eleven in the push.
The Bobcats cut the deficit to six points early in the second quarter before both teams traded scoring runs going into intermission. UAA had a 16-3 run to go up 42-23 with four minutes to play. The Bobcats responded with a 12-0 run led by Lukito and Godfrey to make it a 42-35 contest. However, UAA beat the buzzer to carry a 44-35 lead into intermission.
Alaska Anchorage went back up by double digits to start the third quarter and never looked back. It was a 64-49 Seawolves lead with three minutes left in the third quarter and they extended their lead to as many as 24 points, 75-51, by the end of the frame. UAA shot 60% (6-10) from three-point range in the quarter.
The biggest lead of the game for the Seawolves was 78-53 after the first possession of the fourth quarter. UC Merced managed to make up nearly half the deficit over the next five minutes but couldn't pull any closer than 13 points the rest of the game.
Alaska Anchorage scored its 93 points on 29 assists while shooting 48% from the field. The Seawolves also hit 13 three-pointers. Elaina Mack led UAA with 30 points. UC Merced finished the night shooting 41% from downtown and 76% from the free throw line.
UC Merced will play Alaska Anchorage to finish a back-to-back on Saturday, November 29 at 4:00pm PST at Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage, Alaska.
