Women’s Basketball Celebrates Senior Day Against Gonzaga

On Saturday afternoon, six seniors were recognized in a pre-game ceremony as Santa Clara Broncos women’s basketball prepared to face the Gonzaga Bulldogs in their final home game at the Leavey Center. Despite the lively energy, the Broncos fell just short to the Bulldogs 68-61.

Kaya Ingram, Olivia Pollerd, Malia Latu, Hannah Rapp, Irena Korolenko, and Mia Curtis were honored before the Broncos opened the scoring with a layup from Maddie Naro ’27. After a few consecutive buckets, Gonzaga went on an 11-4 run to close out the first quarter up by 5. 

The Broncos returned the favor by going on their own 9-1 tirade to take the lead heading into halftime. Naro, Rapp, and Georgia Grigoropoulou ’26 led the charge with all nine points. The Broncos were 13-for-32 on field goals and 3-for-10 from beyond the arc compared to Gonzaga’s 10-for-23 and 5-for-11 at this point in the game. 

The Bulldogs came out of the half rolling, with back-to-back 3-pointers and two free throws, holding the Broncos to zero points during this stretch. Coming out of a timeout, Rapp and Ingram responded with a 3-pointer and layup, respectively, but it wasn’t enough. The final score of the third quarter was 50-42 in favor of the Bulldogs. 

The Broncos went on one last run in the fourth quarter. Pollerd sank two 3-pointers while Latu and Korolenko both made layups to cut the lead to 59-57. This is where the surge ended, as Gonzaga went on a 9-4 spree to end the game. Rapp scored a season-high 17 points, Ingram scored 16, and Pollerd finished with 8. 
However, the game goes beyond the score, especially for the seniors. “We all grew close, and those friendships made our last year of eligibility so special,” Korolenko said. “We knew we would never be on a team like this again, so we really made the most of it.”

While the Broncos came up short on the scoreboard, sports have a special way of bringing people together—and that is exactly what happened here. Family and friends filled the stands, cheering on the senior Broncos for one last home game.