SANTA CRUZ (1-13) – UC Santa Cruz played their second game in as many days as they took on California Lutheran University at Kaiser Permanente Arena. The Regals outscored the Banana Slugs by four in the fourth quarter en route to an 81-79 victory. 

Kaylee Murphy had twenty-two points and nineteen rebounds for the Banana Slugs (7-9). Murphy was a perfect 10-10 from the foul line, tying for the second-best performance in school history. CJ Catina had fourteen and Ashley Kowack had eleven.   

Natalie Ruhl had a game-high twenty-nine points for the Regals (5-8).

In the first quarter, the Regals started the game on a 9-4 spurt capped by Ruhl's layup with 6:39 left in the quarter. From that point, the Banana Slugs would go on a 19-4 run, capped by a Zion Gabriel three-pointer, to gain the largest lead of the ballgame at 23-13 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Regals started on a 10-0 run to tie the game at 23-23 with 6:21 left in the half. The Banana Slugs would answer with a 17-9 run, capped by a Maddy Miller layup with twenty-five seconds left for a 40-32 lead. The Banana Slugs led 40-35 at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Banana Slugs and Regals traded baskets, and the lead, back and forth throughout the quarter. Trailing 63-61 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Regals would start the quarter on a 10-0 run for their largest lead of the game at 71-63. The Banana Slugs responded with a 9-0 run, capped by a Miller layup with 3:52 left, for a 72-71 lead. Ruhl made one of two free throws to tie the game at 77-77 with 1:16 left.  Kowack answered with two free throws with thirty-one seconds left to give the Banana Slugs a 79-77 lead. With 0:15 left, Mackenzy Iwahashi made two free throws to tie the game at 79-79. After the Banana Slugs missed a layup and subsequently fouled, Iwahashi made two more free throws to give the Regals the lead for good at 81-79 with five seconds left.

The Banana Slugs shot 37.1% (26-70) from the field, 34.6% (9-26) from the three-point line and were 94.7% (18-19) from the free throw line. The Regals shot 45.2% (28-62) from the field, 46.2% (6-13) from the three-point line and 67.9% (19-28) from the foul line. UC Santa Cruz outrebounded California Lutheran 48-36 while the Regals had twelve more points in the paint (42-30) than did the Banana Slugs 

The next game for the Banana Slugs will be Saturday as they take on NCAA Division II Chico State University in Chico. Game time is set for 3 pm.