LA VERNE, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz women's basketball team picked up a 77-61 victory over the La Verne Leopards on Friday morning with Alyssa Jackson leading all scorers with 17 points while Emilie Ngo, Claire Galbo, Bria Tate, and Danielle Tyner all recorded double digit points. UC Santa Cruz shot 53.4% from the field and 50.0% from downtown, making 10 of their 20 threes. The Slugs will be back in action on Nov. 17 when they travel to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 7:00 p.m.
 
How It Happened
The Banana Slugs struck first and never looked back as Alexa Litchev got the game's first basket just 15 seconds after the opening tip to put UCSC up 2-0 before the Slugs quickly took a seven point lead at 9-2 with points from Lia Papador and Emilie Ngo. The Banana Slugs dominated the first quarter as Alyssa Jackson and Claire Galbo both hit threes while Lia Papador and Bria Tate both added baskets to put UCSC up 21-4 with 3:05 left in the quarter. The Leopards were able to narrow the gap slightly as they outscored UCSC 10-7 down the stretch, but the Slugs stayed on top at 28-14 heading into the second quarter.
 
The two teams played an even 12-12 in scoring in the second quarter with UCSC getting two free throws from Emilie Ngo to go back up by 14 points before the break, taking the 40-26 lead into halftime. The Leopards couldn't quite overcome the UCSC offense in the second half with the Slugs outscoring ULV 19-18 in the third and 18-17 in the fourth. The Leopards had their best momentum in the third quarter when they used a 6-1 run to cut the lead to nine points at 41-32 with 7:21 left in the third but from that point on, the Slugs led by double digits as they outpaced the Leopards. Fourth quarter threes from Bria Tate and Claire Galbo put the Slugs up by 19 points at 65-46 before Alyssa Jackson later hit back to back shots from beyond the arc to put UCSC up by 23 at 73-50 with 5:23 remaining. La Verne was able to close the gap briefly, but their efforts wouldn't be enough as the Slugs earned a convincing 77-61 victory.