UC Santa Cruz Athletics – Kaylee Murphy in action for the Banana Slugs this season.

Two local standouts faced off in college basketball on Monday afternoon, as Kaylee Murphy and UC Santa Cruz got the better of Kaylie McCracken and Whitman by a score of 72-63.

Both former Big 5 players are enjoying big seasons at the collegiate level and both of their teams are off to impressive starts this season.

On Monday, however, it was Murphy who got the win after another standout performance.

The 2018 Eureka High graduate who was recently named to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week after a career-high 26 points in a game against Colorado College, finished Monday’s showdown with a game-high 20 points to go with 15 rebounds, four steals and three blocks.

For the season, the junior forward is averaging 14.7 points a game, as well as a team-high 13.8 boards a game.

She also leads the 8-1 Banana Slugs with 45 assists on the season.

McCracken, meanwhile, is averaging 16.7 points and 10.5 rebounds for the Blues, who came into the week as the No. 2-ranked D-III team in the nation.

Whitman Athletics

The 2018 Arcata graduate, who leads her team in scoring, rebounds and minutes, finished with 12 points and a game-high 17 rebounds.

The junior forward was recently named the Northwest Conference’s Women’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week after leading her team to a pair of big wins over Walla Walla University and Colorado College.

Monday’s loss was the first on the season for the 10-1 Blues.