CLAREMONT-- UC Santa Cruz closed the regular season in style, never trailing in a 73-55 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
The Banana Slugs came out with all cylinders firing against the Athenas. They started the first quarter with a 19-0 run and completely shutting out the Athenas from scoring until 4 minutes left in the quarter. They were led by Amanda Inserra who had a couple of three-pointers narrowing the gap between becoming the all-time UCSC three-point leader. The fast pace in the first quarter was too much for the Athenas as they were held to 8 points while the Banana Slugs racked up 23 points.

Talysha Wilkerson pushed the lead to 26-8 after an "and-1" to open the second quarter. The Athenas rallied and were within 8 with 3:17 left (29-21), but Celine Castaneda had a three-pointer and then a layup after a steal to restore the double-digit lead to 34-21 with 2:24 left. Alyssa Jackson's three-pointer and Jenna Gorton's block with a second left made the halftime score 37-25.

The Athenas rallied in the third quarter, and cut the Banana Slug lead down to 44-41 with 4:41 remaining in the quarter. It was still a three-point game (50-47) at the start of the fourth quarter, but Alexa Litchev had an and-1 of her own to open the quarter and make it 53-47. With the score 54-50, Inserra hit consecutive three-pointers to start a 14-0 Banana Slug run that made it 68-50 with 2:48 left and extinguished the Athena comeback once and for all.

Inserra finished with 20 points, including 6-12 from three-point range. She moved past Brianne Faria for eighth place on the school career scoring chart (903) and past Kayleigh Calandri for second in career three-pointers made (213). Castaneda added 16 points off the bench. Gorton had 12 rebounds and 2 blocks, Wilkerson had a career-high eight assists, and Litchev had a great all-around game with eight points, nine rebounds, and three assists.

The Banana Slugs (9-14) find out Monday who their opponent is for the  Coast-To-Coast Tournament, starting February 22nd in Newport News, Virginia.