Dec. 30, 2000
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - Becki Ashbaugh helped Santa Clara find its identify.
Ashbaugh hit a 3-pointer with 58 seconds left as Santa Clara beat No. 10 Texas Tech 61-56 on Saturday for its first win over a Top Ten team in six years.
"This was a huge win for us to beat a ranked team like Texas Tech," Broncos coach Chris Denker said. "This will help us define our identify. We're going to learn from this."
The last time Santa Clara (8-3) beat a top 10 team was Dec. 19, 1994, against No. 10 Washington.
"It was a big win for us," said Ashbaugh. "We proved to ourselves that we could play."
Ashbaugh scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds as the Broncos won their fifth in their last six games.
Plenette Pierson scored 12 points to lead Texas Tech (9-2), which had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Texas Tech had tied the game at 56 with just over a minute to play when Natalie Ritchie sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
Ashbaugh took the ball, dribbled it two steps and calmly hit the winning basket. Santa Clara hit a pair of free throws down the stretch to maintain its lead.
"We deserved to lose because we didn't play well enough," Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp said. "We had a total breakdown. We have to know how to hold these challenges off. This will have to serve as a wake up call."
Ashbaugh hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Broncos a 34-27 halftime lead.
The Lady Raiders, who had been beating opponents by an average of 20 points, opened the second half with a 20-9 run to take a 47-43 lead with just under nine minutes to play.
"There was no point that we didn't have the confidence to play with them," said Jennifer Glysson, who score 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
Santa Clara shot 48 percent for the game and limited the Lady Raiders to 35 percent.