CHICO, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's basketball team fell 88-54 in its first ever CCAA game to Chico State on Thursday night inside Acker Gymnasium.
The Bobcats (3-5, 0-1) suffered through a cold shooting night while playing their sixth consecutive road game in a 14-day stretch. UC Merced was held to just 26% from the floor. The Bobcats did find success at the foul line with a season-best .778 (14-18) free throw percentage.
Paloma Ramirez finished with a season-high 17 points and eight rebounds to lead the Bobcats efforts. With her eight boards, the senior passed Courtney Danna for ninth in program history with 389 career rebounds. Ramirez also connected on three triples and was credited with a steal in the loss.
Nicole Lukito recorded a double-double with eleven points and ten rebounds. Her fourth double-double of the season and 39th of her career was accompanied by two steals and two assists. Lukito played 29 minutes after being limited to just four last time out.
Sarina Nagra added eleven points while hitting three three-pointers for her fifth consecutive double figure scoring game. She also had three assists.
Other notables include five rebounds and two steals from Elise LeBeau, five points from Ixchel Rojo Valdez, and four rebounds from Campbell Mathews.
Lukito buried a three-pointer to start the night for the Bobcats but that marked their only lead of the game. The two teams were tied 8-8 before Chico State scored eleven unanswered points to gain momentum. Chico State led 22-13 at the end of the first quarter.
The Bobcats cut the deficit down to four points at 24-20 following five straight points from Ramirez. Chico State pushed its lead back to double digits at 33-22 a couple minutes later. After a LeBeau bucket at the 5:26 mark of the period, the Wildcats surged ahead with a half-ending 12-0 run and led 45-24 at intermission.
UC Merced's deficit was between 17-24 points for the entire third quarter. The highlight of the frame for the Bobcats was a 7-0 run that cut the 24-point deficit to 17 with the help of Rojo Valdez.
Chico State ran away with the game in the fourth quarter while shooting 58% over the final ten minutes. The home team led by 30 points with 6:05 remaining and led by at least 27 the rest of the night.
Chico State held UC Merced under 30% in each quarter. Offensively, the Wildcats shot 47% from the floor overall and 47% (8-17) from downtown throughout the contest.
Up next, UC Merced will finish its program-long seven-game road trip at Cal Poly Humboldt on Saturday, December 6. Tipoff is set for 1:00pm inside Lumberjack Arena in Arcata, Calif.
