Rough Week in Bronco Athletics

Zags take down Broncos twice in one week

John Brussan
Sports Editor 
January 31, 2019

(Santa Clara Athletics) Foul trouble was Santa Clara’s demise Saturday against No. 18 Gonzaga. The Broncos take on last-place USF next.

SPOKANE, Wash.—Like Men’s Basketball before them, Women’s Basketball was unable to overcome No. 18 Gonzaga, falling 78-61 to the Bulldogs on Saturday.

The Broncos, who out-shot their opponents from the field, fouled the Bulldogs 22 times, resulting in 22 of Gonzaga’s points coming in the form of uncontested free-throws. Bulldogs’ Zykera Rice led the game in points scored with 18—more than half of which came from the free throw line.

Santa Clara’s only lead of the day came with 3:17 left in the first half following a 10-0 run. The Bulldogs scored the next eight points, taking a 36-33 lead heading into halftime and never looking back.

Senior guard Charise Holloway, averaging seven points per game, carried Santa Clara’s offense with 16 points along with leading scorer of the season, junior Tia Hay, who had 15 on the afternoon. The Bulldogs overpowered Santa Clara, however, with five players scoring in the double-digits.

Women’s Basketball will kick off a three-game homestand this Saturday at 2 p.m. against San Francisco.

Men’s Basketball

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Despite heading into halftime up 38-29, the Broncos were unable to seal the victory over LMU Saturday night.

In the second of a threegame homestand, Santa Clara came out of the gates hot, shooting 54 percent from the field. First-year guard Trey Wertz and senior forward Henrik Jadersten opened with a combined 17 points, going 7-9 from the field to put the Broncos ahead 17-5. Wertz led the team in points scored with 13.

Santa Clara’s troubles came in the second half when Jadersten fouled out and first-year big man Guglielmo Caruso tallied four fouls, limiting his playing time to just four minutes. The Lions’ center, 7-foot-3 Mattias Markusson, used his height advantage in the paint and buried 13 points.

LMU’s shooting became red hot, with the Lions knocking down 59 percent from the field and out-scoring the Broncos 40-23 in the second half to clinch a 69-61 victory.

The loss follows a 98-39 rout of Santa Clara by Gonzaga last Thursday. The Broncos will take on Portland this Saturday at 6 p.m. in the final game of the homestretch.

(Santa Clara Athletics) Junior Maddie Pothoff earned the Broncos’ only point in Tuesday’s match.

Women’s Tennis

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Following overnight rain that led to first serve being delayed, Women’s Tennis came out swinging against Princeton to take the first doubles match of the day. The momentum was short lived though as the Tigers won the next seven matches and breezed to a 6-1 victory over the Broncos on Tuesday.

Junior Maddie Pothoff paired up with sophomore teammate Elvena Gevargiz to take home Santa Clara’s only doubles win of the contest, beating the Tigers 6-2 on court one. Later, during singles matchups, Pothoff beat No. 67 ranked Stephanie Schrage in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 on court one once again, securing the only Bronco point of the day.

The match was in sharp contrast to Santa Clara’s play on Saturday against Dominican where the Broncos had a decisive 7-0 victory.

Women’s Tennis will host UC Davis this Sunday at 11 a.m.

Contact John Brussa at jbrussa@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.

SportsJohn Brussa