POMONA, Calif. — The University of California, Merced women's basketball team dropped a 76-35 decision to No. 9 Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday afternoon inside Kellogg Arena.
Paloma Ramirez led the Bobcats (7-18, 4-14) in her 100th career game with nine points, five rebounds, two steals, and an assist. She is the third player in program history to play 100 career games, joining Christina Castro and Mia Belvin. Ramirez has a steal in six straight games.
Elise LeBeau added eight points to go along with four assists, two rebounds and a steal. She extends her steal streak to 12 games.
Nicole Lukito recorded a career high six steals and chipped in four points, five rebounds and one assist.
Michailla Springs earned her first career start and scored her first career points, finishing with three and adding three rebounds and two steals.
Other notables include seven points for Mariah Flores and four rebounds for Ixchel Rojo Valdez.
The Bobcats struck first in this contest as Ramirez knocked down a baseline jumper on the opening possession, assisted by LeBeau. The 2-0 advantage would be UC Merced's first and only lead of the night as Cal Poly Pomona answered with back-to-back baskets to go ahead 4-2. The Bobcats tied it at four when LeBeau delivered a nice bounce pass to Lukito for a finish inside. The Broncos responded with six straight points to push the margin to 10-4 before Springs scored her first collegiate points on a running floater in the paint to halt the run. It would be UC Merced's final field goal of the quarter, as Pomona closed the period on a 10-0 run, capped with a buzzer beater, to take a 20-6 lead into the second.
Cal Poly Pomona continued their surge into the second quarter with nine more points and led 29-6 at the 6:52 mark. UC Merced ended the drought at 5:47 when Amanda Torrez grabbed an offensive rebound and gave it to Sydney Corder Boyd, who spun inside for a basket to make it 29-8. The Bobcats went just over eight minutes of game time without a field goal during a total 19-0 run by the Broncos that stretched over the first and second quarters. UC Merced added another basket at 3:53 after Ramirez recorded a steal and later knocked down a long-corner two-pointer off a feed from Boyd. The Bobcats closed the half at the free throw line with Flores splitting a pair and LeBeau sinking two with one second remaining, but Pomona held a 38-13 advantage at intermission.
UC Merced scored quickly in the third as Lukito found LeBeau for a jumper to make it 38-15. Cal Poly Pomona responded with 11 unanswered points over the next five minutes, stretching the lead to 49-15. Ramirez halted the run with a long two-pointer with just over four minutes remaining in the quarter. The next Bobcat basket came at the 1:10 mark when Ramirez found Flores cutting baseline, and she laid it up and in sandwiched between two defenders. Torrez added one more for UC Merced in the closing seconds, splitting a pair of free-throws in the bonus. Cal Poly Pomona carried a 57-20 lead into the final quarter.
UC Merced kept fighting in the fourth as the teams traded baskets on their opening possessions, with Flores scoring off an offensive rebound to make it 59-22. LeBeau followed with an incredible bank shot while falling to the floor after drawing contact, sparking an 8-0 Bobcat run over the next two minutes. During the stretch, LeBeau found Lukito inside for a layup, converted a fast break of her own, and Flores added another score to cut it to 63-30 midway through the quarter. Cal Poly Pomona responded with eight straight points to extend the lead to 71-30. Springs split a pair of free throws at the 1:17 mark, but the Broncos responded with two free throws on the ensuing possession to push the margin to its largest of the night at 42 points. Ramirez knocked down the Bobcats' only three-pointer of the night with under a minute remaining to make it 73-34, and Torrez scored one more point at the line with 18 seconds left, but the Broncos secured 76-35 victory.
UC Merced was without Sarina Nagra once again.
Defensively, the Bobcats forced 19 Cal Poly Pomona turnovers but were unable to use that to their advantage and scored a season-low 35 points.
Up next, UC Merced returns home to host Cal State LA on Thursday, February 19 inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30pm as the Bobcats begin their final home stretch of the season.
