Ashley Kowack became the fourth woman in program history to score 1000 points, and UC Santa Cruz used a huge fourth quarter run to take the lead for good in a 72-63 home win over Whitman College.
The Blues entered the game ranked second in the country by the WBCA and D3Hoops.com. However the Banana Slugs went on a 12-0 run in the first 3:38 of the fourth quarter to comeback from a 12-point halftime deficit.
UC Santa Cruz won their seventh straight game to go to 8-1, the best start in school history. Whitman fell to 10-1.
After a fast-paced first quarter ended in a 20-20 tie, the visitors outscored the Banana Slugs 21-9 in the second to go up 41-29 at the break.
The Banana Slugs began their comeback with 4:45 left in the third. Trailing 47-34, Tess Oakley-Stilson got a steal and assisted Aubrey Wagner for a layup. Oakley-Stilson got another steal, and then fed Kowack, who hit her first three-pointer of the game to make it 47-39. 30 seconds later, Lindsay Zientek got the steal and took it in herself. A minute later, Kaylee Murphy got a steal and got it to Kowack, who made it 48-43. Wagner then got into the act, with her steal and layup making it 48-45, giving UC Santa Cruz a 11-1 run courtesy of five steals. The rattled Blues settled down and were able to get the lead back to 54-47 at the end of the third, however the hosts got the momentum back and would go on to dominate the fourth.

Three more steals helped the game-changing run that gave UC Santa Cruz the lead back on Murphy's layup with 6:38 left. Kowack's jumper with 1:41 left gave her her 1000th point, but more importantly made the lead 67-61 before the Banana Slugs finished the game off from the free-throw line.

Kowack finished with 16 points, 15 of them in the second half. Murphy led four Banana Slugs in double figures, with 18 points to go with 15 rebounds. The 15 rebounds put Murphy at 683, passing both Amanda Brecht and Leah Parrish for second on the school career chart.
Wagner had 15 points and Amanda Inserra scored 12. Murphy and Wagner combined for seven of the Banana Slugs 12 steals.
Korin Baker led the Blues with 17 points. Kaylie McCracken had 14 along with a game-high 17 rebounds.
Overall, UCSC shot 46.4 % (26-56) for the game, including 51.6% (16-31) in the second half and got 27 points off turnovers. The Banana Slugs will face another ranked team next, when they host No. 14 Tufts on Wednesday December 29th in the UCSC New Year's Classic.