Bronco women lose in first round
By Chris Furnari
The Broncos' hopes of advancing into the second round of the West Coast Conference tournament were crushed Thursday evening as they dropped their first round game 65-49 to the Loyola Marymount Lions.
The Lions went on a 17-0 run with 14:44 remaining in the second half to put Santa Clara away for good. The Lions trio of Jennifer Hall, Amanda Patton and Ashlee Dunlap led the offensive spurt and combines for 35 of the Lions 65 total points.
Hall led four players in double figures for the Lions with 14 points on 50 percent shooting from the field. The Broncos however only had one player in double figures, with Casey Monteith scoring 10.
Things were looking good for the Broncos in the first half despite the early 12 team fouls. Santa Clara mustered enough offense to lead the Lions heading into the Locker room, 34-32. The offense was fueled by Senior Anna Martin who shot 80 percent from the field and led the Broncos with 9 points. Martin was also a perfect 100 percent from behind the arc.
The Broncos as a team shot .51 percent from the field and had 22 points in the paint in the first half but were shut down in the final 20 minutes of play.
"We knew it was going to be a competitive and physical game," said head coach Michelle Bento-Jackson. "We really got hurt on the offensive boards in the second half and we didn't shoot it as well as we would have liked."
The Broncos shooting quickly went sour, as they only shot 25 percent in the second half of play. Santa Clara was also hurt on the glass as the Lions pulled down 22 offensive rebounds compared to the Broncos 9.
Santa Clara also failed to get leading scorer Chandice Cronk involved in the offensive attack as she was held to only 2 points on just 1-8 from the field. Cronk led the nation in three-point shooting, knocking down 94 in the regular season but missed all five attempts in Thursday's game.
The first round game marked the end of a basketball career for 6 seniors. A teary-eyed senior, Anna Martin, said the mindset of the team was to have no regrets. "I went into the game wanting to have no regrets and I think I left it all out there on the court," said Martin. "I think everyone felt that way."