Box Score
SANTA BARBARA-- Playing their toughest opponent of the season, UC Santa Cruz hung tough against UC Santa Barbara, but eventually the hosts pulled away to hand the Banana Slugs an 87-46 loss on Tuesday.
The Banana Slugs went to 4-3 on the season. It was the first official NCAA game between the two University of California campuses.

Against their Division I opponent, the Banana Slugs kept pace early, and even led 5-2 on Amanda Inserra's three-pointer 1:32 into the game. The Banana Slugs were within three at 12-9 before a 10-2 run the rest of the quarter by the Gauchos made the score 22-11.

The Gauchos pushed the lead to 38-17 after six minutes of the second quarter. Talysha Wilkerson made a pair of free-throws to make it 38-19, but the Gauchos scored the next eight points to take a 46-19 lead at halftime.

The Banana Slugs continued to play hard the entire second half, which saw the debut of Vanessa Ojeikere, who was playing her first basketball game after finishing the season with the UC Santa Cruz volleyball team.

Wilkerson led the Banana Slugs with a season-high 12 points. Inserra scored eight. Both Inserra and Wilkerson shared the team high with four rebounds each. Alexa Litchev had a team-high five assists to go with six points, and Lilli Hammons had six points with two blocks. The Banana Slugs actually won the turnover battle with the Gauchos, forcing the hosts into coughing the ball up 20 times.

UC Santa Cruz will play their third game this week back at the friendly confines of the West Field House when they host La Verne on Saturday afternoon.