Sports Briefs: Week One
SAN FRANCISCO—After dropping the first two, SantaClara Women’s Basketball (8-6, 1-2 WCC) won its first WestCoast Conference matchup in dramatic fashion last Saturday. The Broncos, who were down by 12 points at halftimeto the University of San Francisco, staged a double-digitcomeback and tied the score with less than 10 seconds to goin the fourth quarter, sending the game into overtime. SantaClara rode its momentum to a 71-66 victory over the Donsduring the extra time.
Broncos first-year guard Lindsey VanAllen was the game’sleading scorer with 23 points and nailed the game-tyingthree-pointer late in the fourth. VanAllen’s career-high scoring night also came during her first collegiate start.
Women’s Basketball came back from a 12-point deficit to defeat the Dons.
SANTA CLARA—On Monday night, the Alabama Crimson Tide took on the Clemson Tigers in a championship
game thousands of miles away from their respective hometowns. Despite the distance, Levi’s Stadium was jam-packed
with roughly 74,000 cheering fans.
In their fourth consecutive meeting during the college
football playoffs, No. 1 Alabama—led by coach Nick Saban
and Heisman runner-up quarterback Tua Tagovailoa—appeared to be the favorite. That was until the Tigers handed
the Crimson Tide their worst loss during Saban’s 12-year
tenure.It began early in the first quarter when Tagovailoa’s
third pass of the game was intercepted and returned for a
Clemson touchdown. Tua then responded with a 62-yard
touchdown pass the very next drive to tie the game up
quickly.
Following another back and forth scoring round, Alabama
took its first and only lead of the day with a 25-yard field goal.
Then, Clemson, led by true freshman quarterback Trevor
Lawrence, left nothing to chance as the Tigers punched in
30 unanswered points. Lawrence finished the day 20-32
with 347 yards and three touchdowns and became the only
true first-year quarterback to lead his team to a national title
since 1985.
Clemson came out on top in the CFP National Championship on Monday.
SPOKANE, WASH.—Despite their recent hot streak,
Santa Clara Men’s Basketball received a rude awakening
when they took on the Gonzaga Bulldogs last Saturday. Poor
shooting and a season-high 23 turnovers led to a 91-48 blowout of the Broncos, who were missing key guard KJ Feagin
due to injury.
The Bulldogs’ forward, Rui Hachimura, led the game in
scoring with 25 points. Gonzaga out-shot Santa Clara 51 percent to 33 percent from the field and the Broncos’ six-game
win streak met its demise.
Men’s Basketball is hoping to bounce back from a beat-down last Saturday.