SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz women's basketball team had a back and forth battle fall in favor of the Menlo College Oaks on Tuesday evening, dropping the contest 87-80.
Sarah Reuter led the team with 21 points and seven boards while
Claire Galbo also added 21 points with six boards. The Banana Slugs shot 40.0% from the field and went 9-26 from deep with a fourth quarter surge falling just short against the Oaks. UC Santa Cruz will be back in action on Friday at 1pm when they host the Bearcats of Willamette University.
How It Happened
The Banana Slugs struck first with a jumper from
Sarah Reuter, but the Oaks rattled off a 10-2 run to go up 10-4 with just over five minutes left in the first quarter. Menlo continued to lead the way as they outpaced UCSC 15-12 in the rest of the quarter, taking a 25-16 lead into the second quarter. The Slugs spread their offense out in the first quarter with points from Emile Ngo,
Bria Tate,
Sarah Reuter,
Danielle Tyner, and
Alyssa Jackson.
The opening five minutes of the second quarter saw Menlo outscore UCSC 11-6 to take a 36-22 lead, but the Banana Slugs rallied back, using a 16-8 run to cut the lead to 44-38 at the halftime break. The run saw seven points from
Claire Galbo, five from
Emilie Ngo, and two each from Tyner and Reuter with the team shooting 2-3 from deep and 6-11 from the field. The second quarter ended in style as
Emilie Ngo hit a heavily contest midrange jumper while getting fouled in the process at the buzzer to close the gap to six points heading into the break.
Out of the break,
Sarah Reuter hit a jumper to cut the deficit to four points at 44-40 but Menlo countered, hitting two threes and making a free throw to go up 51-42. A three from
Claire Galbo and a jumper by
Danielle Tyner cut the lead to four points once again, this time at 51-47 with 4:36 left to play in the third, but Menlo quickly surged, using a 14-3 run to extend their lead to 65-50 heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter saw the Oaks get off to a quick start, extending their lead to as much as 20 points on three separate occasions with their last 20 point gap coming at 78-58 with 5:47 to play in the contest. From there, the Slugs managed to mount a comeback as
Sarah Reuter,
Emilie Ngo, and
Claire Galbo got the offense going, cutting the lead to 83-67 with 2:53 on the clock. Galbo knocked down a three and hit two free throws just 25 seconds later, pulling the team within 11 at 83-72 with 1:50 remaining.
Sarah Reuter and
Bria Tate kept the surge alive as Reuter made a fast break layup before Tate knocked down a three, pulling within six at 83-77. Menlo finally got back on the board with a layup and free throw with 26 seconds left but UCSC saw Galbo hit another three on the next possession, keeping the team within five at 85-80. Unfortunately, the comeback was just a little too late as Menlo knocked down two free throws before securing the 87-80 victory as time expired.
