SANTA CRUZ — Elizabeth Messick scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Michelle Naito-Lo (Monterey Park) had a team-high 15 points, but the Occidental College women's basketball team couldn't overcome a double-digit second-half deficit in a 63-62 loss at UC Santa Cruz on Monday.

Oxy (7-5) was behind by as many at 18 points in the second half before switching to a 2-3 zone, with a bigger lineup, to help curb its rebounding disadvantage and slow the Banana Slugs momentum.

It worked and the Tigers got close late.

Crystal Goodwin (Inglewood) and Marquisha Corley (Tucson, Ariz.) hit three-pointers to cut the lead to 63-62 with less than 5 seconds on the clock. Oxy fouled, got the missed free throws it needed, but as Messick rebounded and outlet the ball time ran out on the Tigers comeback bid.

"We just ran out of time," Occidental coach Anahit Aladzhanyan said. "We came back, but it was a little too late."

UC Santa Cruz outrebounded the Tigers 50-36.

"They just really outworked us,"  Aladzhanyan said. "They are smaller at every position but still managed to outrebound us."

Foul trouble was an issue for Oxy too. Naito-Lo and leading scorer Makenzie Brandon (Seattle) both fouled out late in the game.

Brandon scored 12 points, Corley had 11 and Liz Little (Littleton, Colo.) had four assists for the Tigers.

Ryane Ortiz led UC Santa Cruz and the game with 23 points and eight rebounds.

Oxy struggled against the Banana Slugs Princeton offense, according to Aladzhanyan.

They beat us off simple give and go's and we were just a step slow," Aladzhanyan said.  "We went into a zone defense because we couldn't keep up with them."