UC Santa Cruz women's basketball brought the defense on their return to the West Field House, as they forced 24 turnovers in the 83-57 win over Cal Maritime on Friday night.
Ashley Kowack led UC Santa Cruz (4-1) with 18 points on 7-14 shooting. She passed Marcy Harrell (1985-88) for fourth on the school career scoring chart. Penelopi Trieu scored 16 off the bench, including 4-5 from three. Amanda Inserra had 9 points, as did Kaylee Murphy who added team-highs of 6 assists, 4 steals and 4 blocks.
After a close first quarter, the Banana Slugs took control in the second, outscoring the visitors 22-10 thanks to 9-24 shooting and eight steals to take a 33-19 halftime lead. The lead grew to 24 points (64-40) after three quarters and allowed UC Santa Cruz to use their bench the rest of the way. All 13 available Banana Slugs played as UC Santa Cruz finished 32-83 (38.6%) from the field and collected 15 steals while committing just 13 turnovers.
Kai Krauss led Cal Maritime with 17 points.
After taking Thanksgiving Week off, the Banana Slugs return to action when they host UC Merced at the West December 3rd.