BELTON, TEXAS - No. 20 UC Santa Cruz fell to East Texas Baptist 75-51 on Tuesday afternoon to close out the Mary Hardin-Baylor tournament.
 
Making the game entertaining, the Banana Slugs (10-4) erased an early deficit. Trailing 32-15 halfway through the second quarter, the Banana Slugs went on a 13-0 run, capped by consecutive threes from Ashley Kowack and Amanda Inserra, which made it a four-point game before ETBU scored to end the first half leading 34-28.
Jenna Gorton hit a shot with :07 seconds left in the third to keep UC Santa Cruz within 7 points at 52-45 going into the fourth.
However, the Tigers opened with an 11-1 run in the first 3:43 of the last period, pushing the lead back to 63-46, and the Banana Slugs couldn't get it to under ten points again.
 
Kowack had a team-high 23 points, including a season-high 5-12 from three-pointers. She becomes just the second Banana Slug to reach 1,400 career points. Inserra added eight points, while Kaylee Murphy scored seven to go with four rebounds and two steals.
The Banana Slugs overall shot 19-58 (32.8%) from the floor and had 22 rebounds compared to ETBU's 25-46 field goals (54.3%) and 42 rebounds.
UC Santa Cruz has ten days off before their next contest when they return to the West Field House to face Lincoln (CA) on January 13.