WELLESLEY, Ma. – The UC Santa Cruz women's basketball team dropped a hard fought 72-70 contest to the Babson Beavers on Tuesday afternoon. The game featured two lead changes with UC Santa Cruz erasing a second half 13 point Babson lead. Danielle Tyner dropped her second straight double double with 10 points and 12 rebounds while Emilie Ngo led the team with 19 points and six assists. Katie Busch was also a standout performer with 14 points on 5-7 shooting, going 4-5 from downtown. The Banana Slugs are now 8-9 on the year and will be back in action in the new year as they take on the MIT Beavers on Jan. 2 at 10:00 a.m. PT.
 
How It Happened
Alyssa Jackson hit a three to get the games first basket but UCSC working to an early 9-4 lead as Sarah Reuter, Katie Busch, and Danielle Tyner all chimed in. The Banana Slugs continued to maintain a narrow lead over Babson, leading by as much as six points late in the first but Babson closed the gap to 25-21 at the end of the quarter.
 
The Beavers managed to take the lead in the second quarter, going on an 11-0 run to go on top 32-25 before Emilie Ngo finally got UCSC back on the board with a jumper. Babson continued to press forward, leading by as much as nine at 40-31 but a timely three from Alyssa Jackson cut the deficit to six with 55 seconds left in the half. The two teams traded points with Babson taking a 42-36 lead into the halftime break.
 
The two teams went an even 14-14 in the third, but UC Santa Cruz erased Babson's 13 point lead with an 11-0 run that saw points from Bria Tate, Sarah Reuter, Alyssa Jackson, and Emilie Ngo, cutting the lead to 52-50 with 1:30 left in the third. Babson scored the next two baskets to increase their lead back to six points at 56-50.
 
UC Santa Cruz got right to work in the fourth as Emilie Ngo hit back to back jumpers to cut the lead to two at 56-54. UCSC used a narrow 5-4 edge to close the gap to one point following a three from Emilie Ngo with 6:06 on the clock. The Slugs couldn't quite regain the lead, pulling within one point at 62-61 with a layup from Danielle Tyner with 4:52 remaining. Babson managed to use a 9-3 run to increase their lead to 71-64 but three pointers from Katie Busch and Emile Ngo cut the deficit to one point once again, this time with 16 seconds on the clock. The Beavers were fouled on the next possession and only made one free throw to go up 72-70. The Slugs took the last shot from downtown but missed the winner as Babon held off the late rally to win the contest 72-70.