College Roundup: Merced College’s Bey does it all in road win

Salihah Bey appears to be the next in a long line of great Merced College guards.

The freshman leads the Lady Devils with 15.5 points per game, but it’s her all-around contributions that have Bey in the elite conversation. Her full arsenal was on display Saturday night at Taft.

Bey paced Merced College with 22 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists to help the Lady Devils rally from a 10-point halftime deficit for a 76-66 victory.

Samantha James (20 points, 13 rebounds, four steals) also had a big night as Merced (10-12, 2-3 Central Valley Conference) turned the game on its head by outscoring Taft 19-4 in the third quarter. Gabriela Rodriguez drilled four 3s and finished with a career-high 16 points off the bench.

UC Merced 76, Pacific Union 47 in Angwin – Led by Deja Jackson’s team-high 14 points, the Bobcats got an inspired performance from their bench, outscoring the Pioneers 46-6.

Christina Castro (13 points) and Kara Kutsuris (career-high 10 points, nine rebounds) also provided quality minutes off the pine for UC Merced (10-8, 4-2 Cal Pac), while starter Courtney Danna had 14 points, five assists and three steals.

Men’s basketball

Pacific Union 83, UC Merced 69 in Angwin – Matt Laflin’s double-double (team-high 14 points, 10 rebounds) wasn’t enough as the Pioneers pulled away in the last 10 minutes.

Joshua Kimble (11 points), Aaron Laflin (10) and Cole Taira (10) also had solid showings for the Bobcats (4-14, 3-4 Cal Pac) in the road loss.

Merced College 84, Columbia 70 in Sonora – The Blue Devils ran off their third consecutive CVC victory, easily dispatching Columbia on the road.

The win keeps Merced (12-7, 4-2) tied for second in the CVC.

Men’s volleyball

Benedictine 3, UC Merced 1 in Mesa, Ariz. – Cole Smith paced the Bobcats (0-3) with 11 kills, fives digs and an ace, but they couldn’t get it done on the road in a 25-14, 25-12, 26-28, 25-13 loss.

Matt Pelfini picked up a team-high 32 assists and Jacob Shelton led UC Merced with four blocks.

This story was originally published January 22, 2017 at 2:14 PM with the headline "College Roundup: Merced College’s Bey does it all in road win."