SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's basketball team forced a season-high 21 turnovers and led for over 36 minutes in regulation, but fell 79-72 in overtime to UC Santa Cruz in the nonconference finale Tuesday night inside KP Arena.
The Bobcats (3-4) led by as many as 17 points early in the third quarter.
UC Santa Cruz forced overtime with a layup with 2.2 seconds left and then outscored the Bobcats 10-3 in the extra period.
Sarina Nagra led the Bobcats efforts with 22 points, four rebounds, three assists, and three steals. She played 40 minutes.
Mariah Flores scored 13 points on 75% (3-4) shooting from beyond the arc. She recorded a block and a steal on the defensive end.
Quinn Godfrey finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and a steal. Six of her nine rebounds came on the offensive glass. Godfrey has multiple blocks in five of the Bobcats seven games.
Paloma Ramirez added seven points and six rebounds, while Nicole Lukito pitched in four points but was limited to just four minutes of action.
Jazzy Beltran tied her career-high with six assists and collected two steals. Ixchel Rojo Valdez scored four points and grabbed three rebounds.
The teams were tied 6-6 early in the first quarter before the Bobcats started to control the game sparked by a Flores personal 8-0 run. She hit two three-pointers and a pair of foul shots in the burst to put her team up 14-6 with 3:33 to play in the opening period. After some back and forth action over the next three minutes, the Bobcats held a 21-14 lead at the end of one. UC Merced shot 62% (5-8) from downtown in the period. Flores, Lukito, Nagra, and Elise LeBeau all hit a triple.
UC Merced used an 8-0 run from the 9:16 mark to the 7:16 mark in the second quarter to extend its lead to 13 points, 29-16. The Bobcats lead was between 11-13 points for the next five minutes until a Nagra three-point play added to the lead, making it 36-22. A Godfrey layup put the Bobcats up by as many as 16 points at 40-24 just before the Banana Slugs beat the buzzer with a three-pointer going into intermission. UC Merced led 40-27 at the break.
Lukito and Ramirez opened the second half with back-to-back field goals to give the Bobcats a game-high lead of 17 points, 44-27. UC Merced's lead was 51-39 with 4:26 remaining in the third quarter but the Banana Slugs used a 9-2 run the rest of the period to cut their deficit down to just five points, 53-48.
UC Merced's lead was down to one possession when the Slugs got an offensive rebound putback to start the fourth quarter. Nagra responded with a three-pointer, however the home team pulled even 57-57 with 6:22 to play and then took the lead one minute later. The Slugs' lead was their first since early in the first quarter. The host's lead lasted just 13 seconds as Godfrey answered at the other end with a layup.
Godfrey scored again with 4:04 to go and then Beltran finished a three-point play to put the Bobcats up 64-58 on the next possession. UC Merced held a 66-61 lead with 2:51 left but couldn't make another field goal. Free throws by Rojo Valdez and Nagra had the Bobcats up 69-67 with 19 seconds left. UC Santa Cruz then grabbed two offensive rebounds on its attempt to force overtime and capitalized on their third attempt, a driving layup, with 2.2 seconds left. Nagra was unable to hit the game-winner for the Bobcats.
Each team made just one field goal in the extra period, but UC Santa Cruz went 7-8 at the free throw line and outrebounded the Bobcats 7-3 to come out on top. The field goal for each team came within their first two possessions. The Bobcats trailed just 72-71 inside of three minutes before being outscored 7-1 at the foul line the rest of the game in defeat.
UC Merced finished the night shooting 36% from the field, 33% (7-21) from downtown, and 59% (13-22) at the stripe. UC Santa Cruz slashed .377/.278/.710.
The Bobcats road game marked their fifth straight in this seven-game road trip.
Up next, UC Merced begins CCAA action at Chico State on Thursday, December 4 at 5:30pm inside Acker Gymnasium in Chico, Calif.
