UC Merced women’s basketball back in Cal Pac title game

The UC Merced women’s basketball team is headed back to the California Pacific Conference Tournament championship game after putting a rough opening half of shooting behind it.

The top-seeded Bobcats trailed by 11 points in the third quarter but closed the game with a 28-11 run for a 61-50 victory over La Sierra on Sunday. Cal Pac Player of the Year Courtney Danna had a big hand in the comeback. The junior scored all 10 of her points in the second half to go with seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.

UC Merced (10-14) will visit Cal Maritime, which defeated Simpson 53-50 in Tuesday’s championship game. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.. The Bobcats have two wins over the Keelhaulers this season, including a 69-64 win in Vallejo last week.

Merced trailed 39-33 with two minutes to go in the third quarter when Danna and Shelby Howard (team-high 16 points) hit back-to-back threes to tie the score. The Bobcats weren’t done. They closed the third quarter with a 10-0 run to lead 43-39 entering the fourth quarter.

UC Merced never gave back the lead. Brittany Martinez turned in a big game off the bench, helping turn the tide with 12 points, six rebounds and two blocks.

Merced is one win from its second straight trip to the NAIA Division II National Tournament.

Men’s Basketball

No. 1 Cal Maritime 65, No. 4 UC Merced 55 in Vallejo – Michael Pierick closed out his Bobcats career firing. The senior shooting guard drilled a career-high six three-pointers en route to a game-high 25 points on Saturday.

The rest of UC Merced (9-14) shot just 26 percent from the floor, however, as the Bobcats fell in the semifinals of the Cal Pac tournament.

Baseball

Merced College 7, Taft 5 – David Vidauri (2 for 4) broke a tie with a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Blue Devils (5-6, 3-0 Central Valley Conference) completed a three-game sweep of Taft.

Blake Cederlind tossed four innings of scoreless relief to earn his first win of the year. Darren Trainor also drove in two runs, and Alex Pallios doubled and tripled in the victory.

This story was originally published February 28, 2016 at 6:45 PM with the headline "UC Merced women’s basketball back in Cal Pac title game."