In their home opener, UC Santa Cruz used their speed and size to their advantage and never trailed in their 73-57 win over Bethany (WV) Friday afternoon.
The Banana Slugs improved to 4-1 after their third win in a row.

The Banana Slugs scored the game's first six points and led by five after one quarter. It stayed close in the second quarter until an Alexa Litchev's steal and Lilli Hammons basket started a 7-0 run that made it 33-19 with under four minutes until halftime.

UC Santa Cruz led 41-26 at halftime, but the Bison's 17-6 run to open the third quarter got them within 47-43 with 4:17 left in the quarter.
The Banana Slugs found their next gear, and Celine Castaneda's layup started an 18-0 run over the next 7:20 where Bethany missed seven shots in a row and committed five turnovers. That put the Banana Slugs up 65-43 with seven minutes left and took the visitors out of the game.

Amanda Inserra scored 17 points and finished 6-10 from the field, including all five of UC Santa Cruz's three-pointers to move to fourth on the school's career chart with 160. Jenna Gorton scored a career-high 16 while Castaneda added 12. Hammons had a career-high ten rebounds as well as eight points. Bethany's Lindsey Garrison led all players with 20 points.
UC Santa Cruz finished with a 41-33 rebound advantage while making 48.2% (27-56) of their field goals.

UC Santa Cruz will finish play in the Thanksgiving Classic on Sunday against Cal Lutheran.