CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's basketball team jumped out to a 9-0 lead it never relinquished as it captured a 60-49 win over UC Santa Cruz on Monday evening at Roberts Pavilion. 

With the win, CMS improves to 3-1 on the young season, while UC Santa Cruz slips to 2-3 with the defeat. Renee Chong and Katie Resendiz tied for team-high honors for the Athenas with 13 points, while Tanya Ghai ended with 10. 

The Athenas led by 12 points going into the fourth before the Banana Slugs got it down to six with 4:12 left with a pair of foul shots. Ghai then assisted Caleigh Edwards for a three-pointer and hit one of her own on the ensuing possession off a pass from Laura Strenk to get the lead back up to 12 points in a span of 28 seconds. Jane Hewitt capped off an 8-0 run with a driving lay-up with 2:12 to go to finish off the CMS scoring and cap the win. 

Strenk opened the scoring with a fast-break lay-up off a Chong steal, and then Chang followed with a jumper to make it 4-0. Ghai knocked down a three after a steal from Edwards, and Resendiz capped off the opening 9-0 run with a lay-up off a Strenk feed. 

CMS forced 20 UC Santa Cruz turnovers on the day, tallying 11 steals total, with Haylie Wang and Resendiz tying for team-high honors with three apiece. The Athenas also held the Banana Slugs to just 2-18 shooting from three, continuing a season-long trend that has seen CMS hold its opponents to just 14.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc through the first four games (13-92). 

The Athenas will be back in action on Thursday night at 6 p.m. when it takes on Whitworth at Roberts Pavilion.