SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz women's basketball team defeated the NCAA Division II Bobcats of UC Merced 79-72, erasing a 17 point deficit with a strong second half performance. UCSC was led by Emilie Ngo who ended the night with 21 points, seven assists, and six boards. Alexa Litchev recorded 16 points while Alyssa Jackson added 15 points and seven rebounds. Sarah Reuter was instrumental in helping the Slugs earn second half points, recording a double double with 10 points and 15 rebounds. The Banana Slugs are now 4-5 on the season and will travel to the University of Redlands on Dec. 6 at 1:00 p.m.
 
How It Happened
Danielle Tyner and Emilie Ngo got the offense going as UC Santa Cruz took the early 4-3 lead, but the Bobcats managed to gain traction as they used an 11-2 run to take the lead at 14-6 with 3:33 remaining in the first quarter. The Slugs outscored the Bobcats 8-7 in the remainder of the first, but UC Merced took a 21-14 lead into the second quarter. The second quarter saw the Bobcats outscore UCSC 19-13 with Alexa Litchev, Danielle Tyner, and Alyssa Jackson accounting for the team's offense. Jackson managed to hit a three just before the buzzer to cut the Bobcats lead to 40-27 going into the halftime break.  
 
Out of the break, UC Merced made back to back shots to go up by 17 points at 44-27 with less than a minute off the clock in the third. From there, the Banana Slugs began to chip away as Alexa Litchev, Emilie Ngo, and Alyssa Jackson all chimed in to cut the UC Merced lead to just 10 points at 49-39 with 4:39 left in the quarter. The Banana Slugs didn't slow down as Claire Galbo drilled a three to cut the deficit to single digits at 51-44 before Emilie Ngo hit back to back jumpers to cut it to five points at 53-48 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
UC Santa Cruz struck first in the fourth quarter with a tip in layup from Sarah Reuter, but the Bobcats answered, using a three and a free throw to go back up by seven at 57-50. The run didn't bother the Banana Slugs as they responded with eight unanswered points to take the lead at 58-57 with 5:27 on the clock. UC Merced was quick to regain the edge with a 7-0 run, putting UCSC behind 64-58 with 3:47 on the clock. Emilie Ngo, Sarah Reuter, and Claire Galbo all scored key buckets to keep UCSC close, cutting the deficit to 66-65 with just over two minutes to play. The two teams traded points at the free throw line with UC Merced taking a 69-67 lead with 19 seconds on the clock. The Banana Slugs missed two free throws with 12 seconds left but got a second chance, calling a timeout before Emilie Ngo hit the game tying shot in the paint with two seconds left in regulation. UC Merced couldn't get a shot off in time, sending the game to overtime tied 69-69.
 
The Banana Slugs struck first in overtime as Claire Galbo hit a three at the top of the arc. UC Merced responded with a jumper to cut the UCSC lead to 72-71 but the Banana Slugs rattled off five straight points with Reuter and Ngo doing the heavy lifting. UC Santa Cruz held the Bobcats to just one more point in the overtime quarter while Emilie Ngo hit two free throws to secure the 79-72 overtime victory for the Banana Slugs.