Third Quarter Struggles, Too Much for the Warriors

Westcliff women's basketball team has been struggling to find continuity in their last few games.

On Thursday night they were faced with another roadblock when they visited UC Merced and lost 83-68.

On paper, this should have been a winnable game for the Warriors who are trying to get to the second seed in the conference.

Through two quarters there wasn't much separating both teams as they finished the first half tied, 31-31.

But the Warriors started the third quarter slow after missing multiple jump shots and layups.

UC Merced took this opportunity to take the lead and extend it to nine points with three minutes left in the third quarter.

Westcliff wasn't able to find any rhythm as they found themselves down double digits with only the fourth quarter left to play.

In the end, the Warriors weren't able to create enough stops to complete the comeback and have gone 1-2 in their last three games.

Trinity Vasquez had a team-high 21 points but she struggled shooting the ball, at 34% from the field. Vasquez also recorded five rebounds, four assists, and one steal.

Valisa Millhouse was the second-leading scorer for the Warriors with 15 points, three rebounds, and two assists. Millhouse was efficient from the field making 58% of her attempts.

Duna Regalado contributed from the bench with 11 points and three steals.

With the loss, the Warriors are falling behind the second seed in the conference, which is currently Simpson University.

Westcliff is also just one game ahead from the fourth spot, so there is very little room for error now.

It will be an important final stretch for the Warriors with seven games left to play, all of them important for their seeding in the Cal Pac Conference.

They will look at some of the mismatches from this game that allowed UC Merced to get the win.

One of them was Westcliff being outrebounded 20-48.

There's also the free throw discrepancy as the Warriors made four free throws to 27 from UC Merced.

Westcliff will only have one day to work on their game as they visit Simpson this weekend.

The game will take place on Saturday, Feb. 4, with tip-off at 5:30 PM.