Women settle score with Rams

By BRIAN ELSNER

Avenging their loss to Colorado State last season, the women's basketball team defeated the Rams in Fort Collins, Col., 67-66 in dramatic fashion last Friday.

Junior Annie Garrison took the inbounds pass and hit a shot with only three seconds remaining to carry the Broncos to victory and a 10-3 record on the season.

Santa Clara jumped out to a big lead in the first half, but could not hold off the Colorado State comeback. The Rams took a slim advantage into the half and held on to their lead throughout most of the rest of the contest despite a relentless Bronco attack.

After losing three games in a row to top 25 caliber opponents, Santa Clara needed a victory over Colorado State to restore their confidence and their reputation as a NCAA tournament quality team.

"Those games we lost were all reachable for us," Coach Caren Horstmeyer said. "We just needed someone to step up and make a play."

After the Broncos cut the lead to three points with only 18 seconds left in the game, sophomore Becky Ashbaugh and Garrison fulfilled Horstmeyer's wish. Ashbaugh scored on a driving layup to cut the Ram lead to one. After Angie Gorton missed the front end of a one-and-one for Colorado State, the Broncos had the ball with 5.5 seconds remaining. Garrison then hit the game winning shot to clinch a victory for Santa Clara.

"Becky [Ashbaugh] has really started to come up big late in games," Hortstmeyer said, "and Annie [Garrison] has started playing better since she was taken out of the starting line-up."After a slow start to the season, Horstmeyer benched Garrison in favor of junior Jen Glysson. Garrison has responded to the demotion with better play over the past two games, coming up with 19 points against No. 13 Texas Tech and 10 points along with 11 rebounds in the victory on Friday.

"It has taken me awhile to get back in a rhythm after suffering a stress fracture in the preseason," Garrison said. "But I feel like I am getting back into it now."

The improvement is crucial to the Broncos as they enter the conference campaign this weekend at Toso Pavilion. The Broncos attempt to repeat as West Coast Conference champions this year by opening the season with games against Portland on Friday and Gonzaga on Saturday.