Women’s Basketball Sweeps Homestand
Broncos beat Gonzaga and Portland to improve to 9-2 at home
Jack PriceTHE SANTA CLARAFebruary 4, 2016
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Santa Clara women’s basketball team swept Gonzaga and Portland, improving their home record to 9-2 on the season last week. The Broncos are now on a five game winning streak, three of which were at home.
Thus far, the team has had one of their best seasons in years.
At the Leavey Center Thursday night, Santa Clara beat the Zags 71-64. At one point, the Broncos were up by 17 points, almost unheard of in previous games.
The last time the Broncos saw the Zags, they lost by almost 10 points. The tables turned this round against Gonzaga.
Beating Gonzaga allowed Santa Clara to move up in conference to the No. 4 spot, now trailing Saint Mary’s by one loss. The University of San Diego, boasting a 20-2 overall record, is still dominating the league as a whole, and is expected to win conference.
Taylor Berry, sophomore guard for the Broncos, was a key player in the Gonzaga game. She managed to score 18 points and snag four assists and four rebounds.
Morgan McGuire also had seven rebounds adding to her 56 total this season. Controlling the boards was a huge factor in the win. But the Broncos gave up the ball multiple times throughout the game. Gonzaga scored 21 points off turnovers alone.
On the Zags side, Jill Barta had 28 total points, double that of any other individual player on her team. Overall, the game was physical in the paint–Santa Clara scored 30 points driving to the hoop.Unlike the Gonzaga matchup earlier this season, the Broncos were quick to snag the lead. Just seven minutes into the first quarter they were up 11-3. By the end of the third quarter, Santa Clara had rarely lost the lead and had a seven point advantage.
In the fourth, Gonzaga went on a tear–scoring 28 points–11 off free throws alone–but ultimately fell short.
Saturday afternoon, Santa Clara breezed through Portland, coming away with a 66-47 win. Portland is currently 0-11 in conference and 2-20 overall.
Like she did in the Gonzaga game, Marie Bertholdt had 17 points and snagged seven rebounds. Lori Parkinson had nine points and was also active around the rim, snagging 13 rebounds.
Ellie Woerner had 17 points, going 5-7 from three-pointers for the Pilots. The Broncos didn’t pull away from Portland until the second quarter when they found a groove and opened up a 10-point lead. Marie Bertholdt dominated the quarter and put up 12 individual points.
In the fourth, the Broncos held an astounding 26-point deficit for nearly seven minutes. Towards the end of the game the pace slowed down. Neither team scored more than 10 points in the last quarterNonetheless, Santa Clara came away 19 points ahead of the Pilots for the win.
This upcoming Thursday, Santa Clara takes on the University of San Francisco away.
The Broncos recently beat the Dons 68-57 in a heated matchup. They hope to recreate this previous result.
Contact Jack Price at jhprice@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.