SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz women's basketball team took on the Willamette Bearcats for the second straight day but dropped the contest 72-61, going 1-1 on the weekend against the Northwest Conference opponent, moving to 3-5 on the year. The Slugs shot 43.9% (25-57) from the field but struggled from downtown, going 2-18 for 11.1%. Emilie Ngo led the team with 19 points and eight assists while Claire Galbo, Alexa Litchev, and Sarah Reuter made solid offensive contributions with 12, 11, and 10 points respectively with Litchev and Reuter both grabbing seven boards. UC Santa Cruz will be back in action on Dec. 2 when they host UC Merced at 5:30 p.m. in Kaiser Permanente Arena in downtown Santa Cruz.
 
How It Happened
The Bearcats struck first with a driving layup but a 6-0 run with baskets from Danielle Tyner, Emilie Ngo, and Bria Tate put UCSC ahead 6-2 just under three minutes into the contest. Willamette ended the run with a three, sparking a 9-5 run to bring the game to an 11-11 tie with all five points for the Banana Slugs coming from Emilie Ngo. Another three from the Bearcats sparked a 9-2 run that put Willamette up 20-13 at the end of the first.
 
Sarah Reuter and Emilie Ngo quickly cut the lead to 20-17 as the duo both made jumpers to get the second quarter going. The Bearcats continued to push forward as they outscored UCSC 7-2 to extend their lead to 27-19 with 5:28 left in the half. The remainder of the half was nearly even as Willamette took a 7-6 edge down the stretch with Alexa Litchev (4pts) and Sarah Reuter (2pts) accounting for the team's offense, sending UCSC into halftime down 34-25.


Out of the break, the Bearcats went on a 5-2 run with a three and a layup to extend their lead to over 10 points at 39-27. Willamette managed to pull away to a 14 point lead at 44-30 with 7:06 left in the third but UCSC quickly fired off a 9-0 with four points from Reuter, three from Galbo, and another two from Litchev, cutting the deficit to five points at 44-39 with 4:36 left in the third. A three from Willamette brought the run to an end but only for a moment as a layup from Litchev and a three from Emilie Ngo pulled the team within three at 47-44 with 3:09 remaining in the third. From there, Willamette rallied, closing out the quarter on a 6-2 run to take a 53-46 advantage into the fourth quarter.
 
The Banana Slugs struggled to get things going early in the fourth as Willamette used back to back threes to lead a 10-2 run, making their way to a 63-48 lead. UC Santa Cruz was able to slowly regroup, outscoring Willamette 10-6 with five points from Galbo, four from Ngo, and one from Litchev, cutting the lead to 69-58 with 3:58 on the clock. The final four minutes were an even 3-3 in scoring as the Bearcats took the 72-61 victory over the Banana Slugs.