Bronco Women Host Waves, Lions This Week

Game Notes in PDF Format
WCC 'Road to Vegas' with Meagan Fulps and Lindsay Leo

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Bronco women look to improve on a 2-3 start in the WCC when they host Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount this week at the Leavey Center. Santa Clara can move into third place in the league standings with a pair of wins.

Game Notes Week #13 - January 24-30, 2011
PEPPERDINE @ SANTA CLARA
Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011 • 7 p.m.
Game #20 • Home Game #8 • Santa Clara, Calif.
Live Video | Live Stats

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT @ SANTA CLARA
Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011 • 2 p.m.
Game #21 • Home Game #9 • Santa Clara, Calif.
Live Video | Live Stats

LIVE COVERAGE
The best place to follow all the action this week is SantaClaraBroncos.com. A FREE three-camera video broadcast will be available along with FREE live scoring. Michael Spero (play-by-play) will be calling both games live, courtside from the Leavey Center.

GAME PROMOTIONS/EVENTS
'Go Green' awareness night is Thursday against Pepperdine. At the entrance gate of SCU's Leavey Center, fans are encouraged to bring used batteries, ink cartridges, cell phones, CD's or DVD's. Those will be the only acceptable items, but any fan bringing recyclables will receive a FREE raffle ticket for prizes awarded during the game. Also on Thursday night, women's soccer alumnus and U.S. Olympian Brandi Chastain will be the featured speaker at halftime as part of the West Coast Conference 'Represent' campaign. Ruff Riders get there early! FREE food will be given out prior to tip-off. Saturday will be Girl Scout Night at the Leavey Center.

GAME NOTES

• Santa Clara is led by third year head coach Jennifer Mountain
• The Broncos can move into 3rd place in the WCC standings with two wins
• SCU is 3-4 at home this season (12 of 19 have been played on road)
• All-WCC forward Lena Gipson will be honored prior to Saturday's game for becoming the second player in school history to reach the 1,000-point and 800-rebound milestones
• The Broncos turned their season around by winning 6 of 8 from Dec. 16 through Jan. 13
• In 5 WCC games, G Meagan Fulps (15.4 ppg) leads the team in scoring
• Saturday's game with LMU marks the halfway point in the WCC season
• Pepperdine enters the week 12-7; 3-2 WCC, LMU is 9-10; 3-2 WCC
• The Waves have won 7 of 9, losing only to SMC and Gonzaga
• Pepperdine is 6-4 on the road, LMU is 5-5 away from home
• The Waves make over 7 three-pointers per game and rank No. 14 in NCAA in steals (12.9 pg)
• Pepperdine junior G Jazmine Jackson (13.5 ppg) leads the team in scoring
• The Lions are coming off a 66-61 loss to Pepperdine at home
• LMU is playing low-scoring games, averaging 60.7 pts and allowing 62.9
• The Lions lost leading scorer and All-WCC G Alex Cowling early in the year
• Renahy Young has picked up the scoring load, averaging 18.6 points per night through the first five WCC games
• The Lions beat SMC on the road 65-53 and gave Gonzaga a game at home, losing 65-59
• NEXT UP: SCU will host local rival USF next Saturday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m.

SANTA CLARA
The Broncos (6-13; 2-3 WCC) and head coach Jennifer Mountain are much improved from a year ago and can even up their home record at 4-4 with a win Thursday. SCU has out-shot their opponents from three-point range in all six of their wins this season. The starting backcourt of Alyssa Shoji, Meagan Fulps and Ricki Radanovich have combined for 91 of the team's 103 three-pointers. Fulps, a sophomore from Littleton, Colo. is scoring 15-plus in five WCC games and Shoji is distributing nearly five assists per game in league play. Senior forward Lena Gipson continues to lead the WCC in rebounding (10.3 rpg) and is averaging a double-double, adding 11.2 points each night. Gipson – a transfer who originally attended Arizona State – has put up amazing numbers in two-plus seasons at SCU. She is one of just two players in school history to have 800-plus rebounds and 1,000-plus points.

PEPPERDINE
The Waves (12-7; 3-2 WCC) have played especially well as of late, winning 7 of 9, including a 66-61 win at LMU on Saturday. Pepperdine ranks second in the league in scoring at 70.3 points per game and shoot .351 as a team from 3-point range. They also rank No. 14 among all NCAA teams in steals (12.9 pg). Junior guard Jazmine Jackson (13.5 ppg) is one of three Waves to average double figures in scoring. She also leads the team in rebounding (6.2 rpg). Seventh-year head coach Julie Rousseau has a career record of 98-101 at Pepperdine and is 47-43 all-time versus the WCC. Pepperdine was 20-12 last season and made the WNIT.

THE SERIES WITH PEP
Santa Clara leads the all-time series 30-29 but is looking for its first win over the Waves since an overtime win at the Leavey Center in 2007-08. In the last meeting, February 13, 2010, Santa Clara rallied from a game they trailed by 22 but Pepperdine was able to hold on for the win, 65-51. Alyssa Shoji made six 3s and scored a team-high 20 points in that game. Lena Gipson had a career-high five blocks. Pepperdine beat the Broncos 83-67 on January 14, 2010 at the Leavey Center.

LMU
The Lions (9-10; 3-2 WCC) will look to even its overall record and improve to 4-2 in the WCC Thursday when they play at San Francisco. Julie Wilhoit is in her 16^th season as LMU head coach, leading the Lions to a 13-17 overall record last season, 5-9 versus the WCC. The Lions went through a stretch in late December where they scored just 39 points in three straight losses. Since then, LMU is 4-3 in its last seven, winning on the road at St. Mary's 65-53 and San Diego 70-53 to begin its league schedule. Guards Renahy Young (15.0 ppg) and Candice Nichols (14.2 ppg) are two of the top players in the conference.

THE SERIES WITH LMU
Spanning 57 meetings, Santa Clara owns the all-time edge 39-18.  The Lions have won five straight, including winning a close game, 60-56, at the Leavey Center January 16, 2010 – a game the Broncos led at halftime. Alex Cowlings – who will not play this weekend, led all scorers with 18 points in that win. The last meeting came in Los Angeles on February 11, 2010, a 73-61 LMU win. Santa Clara played well in the second half of that game, closing within one before the Lions pulled away down the stretch. 

HEAD COACH JENNIFER MOUNTAIN
'JMO' became the eighth Santa Clara head women's basketball coach in April 2008. She came to the Mission Campus after serving seven seasons as the top assistant coach at Gonzaga, where she helped the Bulldogs to four-straight WCC regular season championships and one tournament crown. Her Santa Clara team ended the 2009-10 season in grand fashion at the 2010 WCC tournament in Las Vegas, winning twice to become the first No. 8 seed in tournament history to advance into the semifinals. It was the second-straight year Mountain's teams peaked when it mattered most. In her first year at Santa Clara, Mountain guided the Broncos into the WCC tournament quarterfinals. "Jen understands what Santa Clara is all about," said SCU Athletic Director Dan Coonan. "It's about competitive basketball but it's about so much more than that. Educating men and women for competence, conscience, and compassion -- that's what Santa Clara really stands for. We believe that and live that here. I think Jen is the perfect person who embodies those kinds of values."

WCC STANDINGS
Team - WCC - Overall
Gonzaga - 5-0 - 17-4
St. Mary's - 4-1 - 12-8
Pepperdine - 3-2 - 12-7
Loyola Marymount - 3-2 - 9-10
Portland - 2-3 - 11-9
Santa Clara - 2-3 - 6-13
San Diego - 1-4 - 11-8
San Francisco - 0-5 - 3-16

LAST TIME OUT
Portland won a closely contested West Coast Conference women's basketball game with Santa Clara 70-62 Saturday afternoon at the Chiles Center.  Tied at 52 with 6:37 left, the Pilots out-scored the Broncos 18-10 down the stretch to win their second straight. Portland (11-9; 2-3 WCC), who started the season 9-3, picks up a weekend sweep at home after beating USF easily on Thursday. Santa Clara (6-13; 2-4 WCC) held a 30-16 advantage in the paint behind All-WCC power forward Lena Gipson who posted her eighth double-double, scoring 14 points and hauling in 11 rebounds. Meagan Fulps scored 14 and Lindsay Leo had 10.

FULPS, LEO FEATURED ON 'ROAD TO VEGAS' SERIES
An all-new episode of The Road to Las Vegas is now available on-demand on WCCsports.com, featuring Santa Clara's Lindsay Leo and Meagan Fulps. The Road to Las Vegas introduces fans to West Coast Conference student-athletes both on-and-off the court as they race towards the 2011 Zappos.com West Coast Conference Basketball Championships at the Orleans Arena in March.  This week on the show, host Ted Robinson has highlights from a busy WCC weekend. In the weekly "60 Seconds With…" segment, we visit the Santa Clara campus, where Fulps interviews Leo.  In addition, this week's show features an exclusive interview with Gonzaga guard Steven Gray.  New episodes of The Road to Las Vegas premiere Wednesdays on WCCsports.com, and can be viewed any time on-demand.

GIPSON JUST SECOND IN SCU HISTORY TO HAVE 1,000 PTS/800 REB
In 46 years of women's basketball tradition at Santa Clara, just one other player has scored 1,000 points and totaled 800 rebounds. On January 11, 2011, in a victory over San Diego, Lena Gipson reached both those career milestones on the same night, scoring a season-high 19 points, allowing SCU the victory and a 2-0 start to league play. She ranks second all-time in rebounds, rebounding average; also ranks among the program's top 10 in scoring average, field goal percentage and blocks – doing so in just two-plus seasons.

QUOTABLE
"A lot of planning and calculating," says Lena Gipson, who at 6-foot tall is rarely the biggest player on the court but leads the league in rebounding. "I think a lot of basketball is mental. Being aware of what is going on in the play; reading your teammates and the opponents in the flow of the game. I know when the three-point shooters are going to shoot. I look at that a lot to get early position and push some of the bigger players out further."

SANTA CLARA WOMEN'S HOOPS ON YOUTUBE!
Check out the latest videos and features on the Broncos on the team's official YouTube page (youtube.com/scuwbb).

DID WE MENTION IT'S FREE?
In conjunction with the West Coast Conference, fans can watch a three-camera broadcast for every basketball home game and all conference road games this season FREE of charge on SCU's official athletics website (SantaClaraBroncos.com). Additionally, Santa Clara's Michael Spero (play-by-play) will call selected non-conference road games, also FREE.

ESPN RANKS SCU RECRUITING CLASS AMONG NATION'S BEST
Next year's incoming class for the Santa Clara University women's basketball program has been ranked No. 56 nationally by ESPN HoopGurlz. The Broncos and third-year head coach Jennifer Mountain announced the signing of four outstanding high school players during November's early signing period last week:

Nici Gilday of San Jose, Calif. (Presentation HS)
Vanessa Leo of San Jose, Calif. (Archbishop Mitty HS)
Colleen Rooney of Centennial, Colo. (Regis Jesuit HS)
Tyler Woods of Corona, Calif. (Centennial Corona HS)

"All four of our future Broncos fit the mold of what Santa Clara is all about.  They are extremely bright young women who value education and grasp what it means to be a Bronco both on and off the court.  They are great role models and will represent Santa Clara with respect and class at all times.  I am very excited about them joining us next year and having the chance to coach them," said Mountain.

BAY AREA BRONCOS
When Jennifer Mountain was hired as Santa Clara University's women's basketball head coach in April of 2008, the program was void of a single player from a Bay Area High School. This season SCU's roster boasts four Bay Area players. All three of the Broncos' incoming freshmen starred at local high schools: sophomore transfer Lindsay Leo (Archbishop Mitty), Ricki Radanovich (Carondelet), Iman Scott (Archbishop Mitty) and Arteivia Lilomaiava (Aragon).  "There is a tremendous amount of local talent and it's a crucial element to our recruiting," says Mountain. "It's going to help with the level of our program, local pride and our fan base.

GIPSON NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Santa Clara University senior power forward Lena Gipson was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week, as announced by the league office on Monday, Dec. 20. Gipson had 22 rebounds and scored the go-ahead basket with just over one minute left to lift Santa Clara past Pacific Thursday night at the Leavey Center, 52-47. Her 22 rebounds was one shy of a Santa Clara school record. The senior from Hanford, Calif. leads the WCC in rebounding and ranks among the nation's leaders. It was her third 20-rebound game of her Bronco career.

GIPSON NAMED PRESEASON ALL-WCC
Lena Gipson was named to the 2010-11 West Coast Conference Preseason All-Conference Team. Gipson, a senior power forward from Hanford, Calif., is one of the most prolific rebounders in Santa Clara University history. She was one of ten players recognized on the team, which was released along with the preseason coaches' poll. Santa Clara was picked to finish seventh in the eight-team league. Gipson was named an All-WCC First Team player last season after averaging a double-double (12.6 ppg/10.0 rpg) and collecting 16 doubledoubles on the year, which ranked No. 23 among all NCAA players.

WCC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO VEGAS
The West Coast Conference will return to Las Vegas in 2011 for the Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championships on March 4-7. In July 2009, the WCC and Orleans Arena announced a three-year contract extension that would keep the Basketball Championships at the Orleans Arena through 2012. The 2010 Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championships was another successful tournament, selling out for the second consecutive year. This year's tournament will feature the same format as the previous two years, with a combined total of 14 men's and women's games over four days. Tickets for the event are now on-sale.

TICKETS
Buy tickets online via (SantaClaraBroncos.com), or visit the Leavey Center ticket office (500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, Calif.) or by calling directly at 408-554-4660.