Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College women's basketball team dropped their third straight game by double figures to the Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz 71-47 Saturday afternoon at the Graham Athletic Center.

Whittier now drops to 2-6, 1-2 SCIAC, while UC Santa Cruz improves to 6-3.

The non-conference match-up started in the Banana Slugs favor as they opened up a 7-0 lead before Whittier responded with two three pointers from Alex Coon and Danielle Quinones and two free throws from Quinones that pulled the Purple & Gold within three at 11-8.  Over the next five minutes Whittier was held scoreless before Maria Montero broke the streak with a free throw at the 9:58 mark.

Whittier pulled within six late in the first half thanks to jumpers from Amanda Apgar and Coon but that's as close as the Poets would get as the Banana Slugs would tally six straight points to enter the break up 32-23.

The Purple & Gold came out aggressively in the second half and scored the first two baskets to pull within five but were unable to put together a run that extended past five points the rest of the half that proved to be crucial down the stretch. 

After a 5-0 run by UCSC sparked by Sarah Mackey that opened the game up to double digits Whittier pulled within nine two more times but that's as close as they would get in the second half as UC Santa Cruz extended a lead to 17 and then to 20 behind seven straight points from Mackey with 7:43 to play.

Despite a late run and strong play inside from sophomore Katie Heard who totaled five points all coming within a 30 second window late in the game, it wasn't enough to overcome the double digit deficit and a 6-2 run that closed out the game for UCSC.

The Banana Slugs were led by Mackey who had a double double with a game high 25 points on 11-17 shooting to go with 10 boards.  Off the bench Santa Cruz also got double digit performances from Lashay Alexander and Geena Giovannetti who poured in 10 and 11 points, each respectively. 

For Whittier Coon was the lone Poet to reach double figures scoring a team high 14 points on 6-14 shooting to go with 6 rebounds, while Danielle Hays chipped in with 9 points.  The Poets were outscored on the bench 31-9 and were outsized inside as UCSC held an astounding 40-12 differential in points in the paint. 

The Poets look to snap their three game losing skid as they return to take on two more non-conference opponents in Pacific Union and Great Falls on December 18 and 19 with tip-offs set for 1:00pm.