LA VERNE– Alexa Litchev and Ariel Anderson both had double-doubles as UC Santa Cruz erased a five point halftime deficit in their 70-65 victory at La Verne.
 
UC Santa Cruz improved to 8-12 and avenged a ten-point home loss to the Leopards back on December 2nd.
 
Trailing by 31-26 at the half, Talysha Wilkerson's three-pointer started an 11-2 run by the Banana Slugs that gave UCSC a 37-33 lead with 6:06 left in the third. Amanda Inserra's first three-pointer of the game made it a 45-37 lead with 3:03 left. La Verne didn't give up and went on a 6-0 run making it a 45-43 game going into the final quarter.

The Leopards tied it at 45-all after less than 90 seconds in to the fourth, but Inserra answered with two more three-pointers to give UC Santa Cruz a 51-48 lead. Litchev's layup with 3:49 left made it an eight-point lead at 62-54, and the Banana Slugs went 6-8 from the line in the last 40 seconds to earn the victory.
 
Litchev had a season-high 20 points to go with 11 rebounds. Jenna Gorton also had her season-high with 16 points. Anderson had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Inserra finished with 12 points-all in the second half after making four three-pointers.
 
Overall, UC Santa Cruz had a 51-40 rebound advantage and were 39.3% (24-61) from the field as opposed to La Verne's 30.8% (20-65). The Banana Slugs finish the Southern California road trip Sunday afternoon at Chapman.