SANTA CRUZ, Calif.— Whitworth had a chance to win the game in the final seconds, but fell 58-57 to UC Santa Cruz in a non-conference women's basketball game. 

In the first quarter, WU jumped to a 15-12 lead as Olivia Mayer scored nine points in the opening ten minutes. The Pirates forced four Banana Slug turnovers and held them to shooting 26.7% from the floor. 

UCSC came out strong in the second quarter and outscored Whitworth 21-12 to take a halftime lead of 33-27. Tara Kanashiro had a chance to cut the lead to four in the final seconds, but was unable to get the shot to fall. 

The Banana Slugs came out strong to start the third period and Kaylee Murphy's layup with 8:08 remaining extended the lead to 39-29 over the Pirates. Whitworth battled to within two, but ended the period down 50-46. 

The game came down to the final seconds after the Pirates came away with a rebound off a Banana Slug missed free-throw. With two seconds remaining, Whitworth drew up a play for the buzzer-beater win, but Kimberly Dewey's trey rimmed out. 

Olivia Mayer had her fourth double-double performance, leading the Pirates with 24 points, 13 rebounds, and two steals. Dewey scored nine.

UCSC's Ashley Kowack scored a dozen and Murphy added ten points and had 13 rebounds. 

Whitworth finished shooting 37.3% (22-59) from the floor, 3-21 (14.3%) from behind the arc, and were 10-19 (52.6%) from the free-throw line. UCSC shot 33.8% (24-71) from the floor, were 0-15 in three's, and made 10-15 (66.7%) from the charity stripe. 

The game featured three ties and six lead changes. 

The Pirates will open Northwest Conference play on the road at Puget Sound on Friday at 6:00 PM.