Santa Cruz, Calif – The No. 15 Transylvania women's basketball team used a game-changing burst in the third quarter to prevail over the University of California, Santa Cruz Banana Slugs, 74-61 on Wednesday evening at Kaiser Permanente Arena.

Trailing 30-28 at the half, the Pioneers concluded their west coast trip to California with a sudden 15-2 run in the third quarter, outscoring the Banana Slugs 23-8 in the third period in the final game of the December Classic tournament hosted by UC Santa Cruz.

The Pioneers improved to 8-1 on the season while the Banana Slugs dropped to 5-7 overall.

Transylvania's two seniors each turned in monster performances in Wednesday's victory; Shelby Boyle produced a double-double with a game-high 18 points and 13 rebounds to go with four assists and three steals. Ashton Woodard also rang up a double-double of 15 points, 10 assists, and five rebounds.

Boyle claimed her second double-double of the season while Woodard set a new career-high in assists in Wednesday's win.

UC Santa Cruz overcame a personal 6-0 run from Elizabeth Hardiman in the first quarter to grab a 21-20 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play.

Both teams struggled from the floor in the second quarter as the Banana Slugs outscored the Pioneers 9 to 8 on the way to securing a two-point halftime lead. The Pioneers held the Slugs to 27 percent shooting from the floor in the second quarter while the Pioneers shot just 4 for 17 from the floor in the second.

Transylvania and Santa Cruz exchanged buckets early in the third quarter before the Pioneers exploded for their most proficient output of the night three minutes into the period. Kennedi Stacy connected on one of her four 3-pointers on the evening to spot the Pioneers a 36-34 lead and Boyle followed with a trey on the following possession to extend the Pioneer advantage to 39-36. Stacy torched the net again with 5:33 left in the quarter and Hardiman added two points from the foul line to put the Pioneers in front, 44-36.

The Slugs stopped the rush momentarily with two free throws before the Pioneers resumed their barrage. Boyle and Hardiman each displayed their might with strong inside finishes on back-to-back possessions and the Pioneers added three more points from the charity stripe to close out the third quarter with a 51-38 cushion.

After shooting 53.8 percent from the field in the third quarter, the Pioneers upped the ante in the final quarter by hitting on 7 of 12 shots from the floor for a 58.3 percent clip. Santa Cruz rediscovered its offensive touch in the last 10 minutes, hitting 9 of 17 baskets but the Pioneers played the Slugs even in the final quarter, 23-23 to win by 13 points. Transylvania took care of business from the free-throw line, canning 17 of 20 attempts while Santa Cruz nailed 8 of 12 tosses.

Stacy had a career-high 14 points in the win, tying her career-best in three-point makes with a 4-for-5 display from downtown. The 80-percent rate from outside was also a career-best for the freshman guard.

Hardiman was the fourth double-figure scorer on the night for Transylvania, finishing with 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting from the deck.

Transy bounced back from a 2 for 9 off night from three-point range the previous evening against Monmouth to hit 7 of 16 shots from distance at a 44 percent figure in Wednesday's win to go 2-for-2 in their west coast trip to the Bay Area.  

The Pioneers will now pause their schedule for the holiday break before returning to action on Monday, December 30 against the Earlham College Quakers in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup. Tip-off between the Quakers and Pioneers is set for 2:00 p.m. at the Beck Center in Lexington.

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