Nov. 10, 2008
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara women's basketball team gets ready to open the 2008-09 season this week beginning with an exhibition game against the Melbourne Roos of Australia Tuesday night at the Leavey Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
SantaClaraBroncos.com will stream the game live through All-Access. The contest will have a live video and audio broadcast. Fans can access the feature by going to SantaClaraBroncos.com, clicking All-Access button and signing up for the service. The All-Access subscription is $6.95 a month or $49.95 for the year. There will also be live stats for the contest that can be accessed for free.
Bronco Watch
Santa Clara is coming off a successful 2007-08 campaign in which the Broncos finished second in the West Coast Conference in regular season play and a third place finish at the WCC Tournament. Under the director of first-year head coach Jennifer Mountain, SCU returns six letterwinners and two starters from last season and welcomes five talented newcomers.
Seniors Sara Majors, Elizabeth Doran and Claire Goins are among the Broncos' top returning players this season. Majors was second on the squad last season with 171 rebounds and 109 assists. She also finished third on the team in blocks (14) and steals (39). Doran led the team with a 39.4 3FG percentage and 18 blocks. Goins shot 44.7 percent from the field last season and was third with an 82.6 free throw percentage.
SCU Newcomers
The 2008-09 women's basketball team welcomes junior college transfer Lena Gipson and four freshman - Kendall Keith, Victoria Lokhorst, Lauren Orlando and Alyssa Shoji - to its roster this year.
Gipson, a sophomore, was a NorCal State MVP in 2007-08 and earned All-America honors while leading the Fresno City College Rams to a school-best 35-3 record.
Keith was a four-time Mission Trail Athletic League honoree and averaged 14.0 points and 5.1 assists per game during her senior year at Stevenson School in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Lokhorst led the Chargers of Edison High School in Huntington Beach, Calif., to a Sunset League Championship in 2007-08 as she averaged a double-double with 10.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. She was also inducted into the Edison High School Hall of Fame for basketball as a senior.
Orlando earned all-league honors as a junior and senior at San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno, Calif. She averaged 10.0 points per game.
Shoji led the Issaquah Eagles to four-straight Kingco 3A Championships and was named first team All-Kingco and MVP as a senior. In her final season, she averaged 15.0 points, 4.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game.
Melbourne Roos
The Roos are an Australian national under-20 team coached by Caroline Duckett. They are traveling around throughout the U.S. playing collegiate teams in exhibition games.
Interesting Note
Bronco assistant coach Tamara Inoue used to help run and coach the Melbourne Roos. With the Roos, she developed several NCAA Division I athletes such as USC's Heather Oliver, Gonzaga's Kelly Bowen and Pacific's Claire McCleod as well as many others.
On Deck
The Broncos open the 2008-09 season on Friday, Nov. 14 against the Titans of Fullerton. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Titan Gym in Fullerton, Calif. Santa Clara then begins its home schedule on Sunday, Nov. 16 against the University of Minnesota. Tip-off for that game is slated for 2 p.m. at the Leavey Center.