CLAREMONT, CA -- Sarah Mackey had a triple double and UC Santa Cruz came from behind to beat Pomona Pitzer 62-56 on the first day of the CMS Thanksgiving Classic in Claremont. 

Both teams were coming off wins in their last contest. UC Santa Cruz won 54-47 over Pacific University in Forest Grove on Sunday and Pomona Pitzer won 69-50 over Linfield College on Tuesday in Claremont. 

The game would start on a back and forth pace with both teams trading baskets, and the lead, for the first three and a half minutes. The Banana Slugs would gain their largest lead of the half, at 9-6, after two Leah Parrish free throws with 15:59 left in the half. The Sagehens would take the lead back, at 11-9, on an Alaina Woo three pointer with 15:27 left in the half. The Sagehens would take their largest lead of the game at nine, at 26-17, on a Jenn Okonkwo layup with 5:48 left in the half. The Slugs would chip away at the Sagehen lead with an 8-3 half-ending run and the Sagehens would lead 29-25 at the halftime intermission. 

In the second half, the two teams would once again play at a back and forth pace. Each team would gain a lead but neither team gained a lead larger than five for the first nineteen and a half minutes of the half. UC Santa Cruz history occurred with 4:50 left in the game as Sarah Mackey hit a three-pointer to join Kayleigh Calandri as the only players in UC Santa Cruz women's basketball history to score 1,000 points in their career. The Banana Slugs would gain the lead for good, at 53-52, on a Leah Parrish layup with 2:20 left in the game. The Banana Slugs would gain their largest lead of the game at six, on two occasions, the second coming with five seconds left, at 62-56, on two Leah Parrish free throws. The Banana Slugs won 62-56 to improve their record to 5-0.

As previously mentioned, Mackey had a triple-double with seventeen points, ten rebounds and eleven blocks for the Banana Slugs. The eleven blocks is an NCAA Division III national high for the season thus far. Basha Brulee-Wills had a game high eighteen points for the Sagehens. Parrish had fourteen points for the Banana Slugs in the win. Okonkwo had a double double for the Sagehens with sixteen points and ten rebounds. 

The Banana Slugs shot 28.8% (19-66) from the field, 30.8% (8-26) from the three point line and was 88.9% (16-18) from the free throw line. The Sagehens shot 45.3% (24-53) from the field, 50% (2-4) from the three point line and 85.7% (6-7) from the foul line. UC Santa Cruz's defense forced eighteen Sagehen turnovers scoring thirteen points off the turnovers while the Sagehens' defense forced eleven turnovers by UC Santa Cruz scoring ten points off the turnovers. UC Santa Cruz outrebounded Pomona-Pitzer 40-36 but the Sagehens had fourteen more points in the paint (26-12) than did the Banana Slugs. 

The Slugs will play their next game on Saturday against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The game will be the second and final game of the Slugs' participation in the CMS Thanksgiving Tournament. Tipoff is set for 3 pm.