SANTA CRUZ, California - The Howard Payne University women's basketball team closed out its trip to the west with an 82-58 loss to UC-Santa Cruz Sunday afternoon.

Howard Payne was led by Chelsey Harris with 16 points and six rebounds. Anastasia Willis followed with six points and eight rebounds.

The Lady Jackets struggled shooting on the day hitting 19 of 64 (29.7%) shots taken from the field. But it was free-throw attempts that were a big factor with UCSC taking 13 (27 of 39) more attempts than HPU (16 of 26).

With UCSC holding a 10 point lead midway through the first quarter, the Lady Jackets turned it on outscoring their opponent 13-4 making it 20-19 UCSC at the end of the first period. UCSC then hit 5 of 7 three pointers in the second to gain a 44-32 halftime lead and an advantage they would keep the rest of the game.

UCSC was led by CJ Catina with 20 points and Caylee Murphy with 13 points and 17 rebounds.

"We had a fun but also a learning experience in California," said head coach Yannick Denson. "My young and experienced players both have now seen different styles of play and we are excited about bringing back things we have learned and applying it to our game."

Howard Payne is now 3-5 overall and UC-Santa Cruz stands at 5-5 on the year. The Lady Jackets will play next on Friday, Dec. 13th at Dallas Christian College in Dallas, Texas. It will be a 4:30 pm start time.