Castro’s big night propels UC Merced into the NAIA Tourney

The legend of Christina Castro continues to grow.

Fresh off her last-minute surge that propelled the UC Merced women’s basketball team into Tuesday night’s California Pacific Conference tournament final, the freshman guard shouldered the offensive load.

The Bobcats made only seven shots in the second half, but Castro provided four of them, including three three-pointers. Her game-high 20 points and a stingy UC Merced defense helped the Bobcats defeat La Sierra 53-43 at Cal Maritime to win the school’s first Cal Pac title and an automatic berth into the NAIA national tournament.

The Division II field will be selected tonight with UC Merced (14-11) set for a trip to Sioux City, Iowa, in just the program’s third year.

“We knew coming in it was going to be a close game and we just needed to grind it out,” Castro said. “My teammates did a great job getting me the ball and I was able to hit a couple shots when we needed them.

“We had so many shots go in and out, but we couldn’t worry about that. Whichever team let up for just a little bit of time was going to be the one to lose. We missed a lot of shots, but we made up for it on the defensive end.”

Bobcats coach Kevin Pham intended to get La Sierra (10-17) out of its offensive rhythm. He hoped to accomplish that with his fullcourt press, but it’s tough to set up the press when you’re not making shots.

It mattered little as UC Merced was every bit as tenacious in its halfcourt defense. The Golden Eagles committed 21 turnovers overall and shot 7 of 33 in the second half.

“I felt like our youth showed at times,” Pham said. “We rushed up some shots early in the shot clock and never consistently got into our offense.

“They have one of the best guard combos in the league, and we knew coming in we had to slow them down. Fortunately, we were able to get them out of their comfort zone and get stops when we needed them.”

UC Merced led 18-12 at the 15-minute mark in the opening half, but no more than five points separated the teams for the bulk of the game.

The Bobcats finally broke that streak with just under four minutes to play. A drive by Alexis Wu followed by a steal and layup by Shelby Howard (10 points) gave UC Merced a 47-40 lead.

The Golden Eagles didn’t go away. A free throw by Faith Fantroy and a jumper by Kristen Brummett (team-high 12 points) brought La Sierra right back within four.

But the Golden Eagles came no closer. Merced made 7 of 9 free throws down the stretch to pull away.

In a special moment, graduating junior guard Leticia Oceguera, whose final season was cut short by a knee injury, entered the game for the final 10 seconds. She took an inbound pass and chucked the ball into the air to start a wild celebration as the 75-plus Merced fans who made the trip stormed the court.

“We wanted it more,” Castro said. “They never went away, but there was no way we were going to let them take our banner or trophy.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2015 at 10:43 PM with the headline "Castro’s big night propels UC Merced into the NAIA Tourney."