Ricki Radanovich previews Saturday's game with UVU
Nici Gilday Debuts on the Bronco Weekly Sports Wrap
All-WCC Preseason Team announcement on WCCSports.com

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara University women's basketball team wraps up its three-game season opening homestand Saturday afternoon when Utah Valley University - a team which will join the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) next year - visits the Leavey Center at 2 p.m. The game will be aired live on SantaClaraBroncos.com.

Game Notes Week #2 - Nov. 11-18, 2012
UTAH VALLEY (1-2) @ SANTA CLARA (1-1)
Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 • 2 p.m.
Game #3 • Home Game #3 • Santa Clara, Calif.
Live Video | Live Stats

LIVE COVERAGE
A live pay-per-view video broadcast of Saturday afternoon's game will be available on Santa Clara's official athletics website (SantaClaraBroncos.com). Doug Greenwald (play-by-play) will call the action courtside from the Leavey Center. A season pass is available for $49.99 or single games can be viewed for $9.99. Additionally, SCU will offer FREE live stats for all home games this season courtesy of StatBroadcast.

TICKETS
Season tickets start at just $40 for youth/seniors and $52 for adults.  Single-game tickets start at just $5. For the best value, purchase a Family Plan for $100. The Family Plan includes two adult and three youth tickets to each and every home game. Tickets are available for purchase online at SantaClaraBroncos.com/buytickets or by calling the ticket office directly at 408-554-4660.

GAME PROMOTIONS (DISCOUNTED TICKETS WITH FOOD DONATIONS)
SCU basketball is teaming with Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties to help distribute food to people in need. Donations will be accepted at the Leavey Center entrance Saturday. Fans can receive a dollar off their ticket price per can donated.

WEEKLY NOTES
* Santa Clara is led by fifth-year head coach Jennifer Mountain
* The Broncos drilled UC Irvine 77-54 in their season-opener, then lost to No. 4 Stanford
* SCU went 12-18 (8-7 at home) last season
* Utah Valley was 15-15 (4-9 on the road) a year ago
* SCU is led by seniors G Meagan Fulps (23 points vs. UCI) and F Lindsay Leo (16 points vs. STAN)
* Meagan Fulps was named to the 2012-13 Preseason All-WCC team
* Fulps ranks 11^th in SCU history in scoring avg. and owns 999 career points
* Santa Clara is armed with two formidable bigs in 6-foot-2 Lindsay Leo and 6-foot-4 Ruta Zurauskyte
* Utah Valley will move from the Great West Conference to the WAC next season
* The Wolverines started slowly and eventually lost at SJSU Thursday night 81-72
* SCU and Utah Valley have never met; the Wolverines went Division I in 2003
* NEXT UP: SCU will play its first road game at Pacific Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.

HEAD COACH JENNIFER MOUNTAIN
Fifth-year Bronco head coach Jennifer Mountain has improved Santa Clara's win-total in each of her seasons on the Mission campus, while her student-athletes have garnered local, regional and national recognition stemming from their academic achievements and the program's commitment to community service. Mountain and her 2011-12 team won six of its first seven games, the program's best start in over 10 years. SCU finished with 12 wins, the team posted a collective GPA of 3.12 and a league-best three student-athletes were named to the 2012 West Coast Conference All-Academic Team. In her third season at SCU, 2010-11, Mountain led the Broncos to a top-tier finish in the WCC standings and for the third-straight year won at least one postseason game at the conference tournament. The team climbed up the league standings in 2010-11, finishing in a tie for fourth after winning 4 of 7 WCC games at home and winning 11 games overall. Mountain's team closed out the season with a 9-9 record in their last 18 games, including winning back-to-back WCC games twice and beating rival USF at the WCC tournament in March.

The Jen Mountain File:
• Head Coach - Santa Clara University (2008-pres.)
• Assistant Coach- Gonzaga University (2001-08)
• Boys Head Coach - St. George's School (1994-2001)
• Amateur Player - Gonzaga University (1987-91)

QUOTABLE
"I think our defensive pressure needs to pick up and our intensity level needs to be there for forty minutes," said SCU head coach Jennifer Mountain when asked about Saturday's game against UVU. "We did bits and pieces of that last weekend but we still have work to do. It is a team that is picked to be one of the best teams in the Great West Conference."

LAST TIME OUT
A large crowd of 2,728 fans at Santa Clara's Leavey Center saw the No. 4-ranked Stanford Cardinal pull away and defeat SCU 92-57. 
Santa Clara (1-1) was coming off an impressive 77-54 victory over UC Irvine in its season-opener Friday night.

"My mindset going into this game was that we had nothing to lose," said senior forward Lindsay Leo, who finished with 16 points to lead the Broncos. "I wanted to really give them a run for their money. It was a great chance for all of us to test ourselves."

Leo and senior classmate Meagan Fulps combined for 12 of Santa Clara's first 16 points and the Broncos trailed by just five, 17-12 with 13:25 left to play in the first half. Fulps finished with 14 points, making three 3s. Ruta Zurauskyte had seven rebounds and Nici Gilday distributed six assists.

The Cardinal countered with 22 points by All-America forward Chiney Oqwumike and senior Joslyn Tinkle made 9 of 11 shots. Stanford (2-0) has qualified for 25-straight NCAA tournaments under long-time head coach Tara VanDerveer. Now in her 34th season, VanDerveer brings back Oqwumike and company, aiming for the program's sixth consecutive Final Four appearance.

"The atmosphere was absolutely wonderful," said SCU head coach Jennifer Mountain. "The feeling in the gym, people in the upper decks ... it was a fun environment." 

SANTA CLARA ANNOUNCED ITS RECRUITING CLASS THURSDAY
One year removed from bringing in a recruiting class ranked among the nation's best by ESPN, the Santa Clara University women's basketball program and head coach Jennifer Mountain have received National Letters of Intent from five prep stars who will be attending the University and playing for the Broncos in 2013-14.

Taylor Williams – Forward, 5-foot-11 (Highlands Ranch, Colo./ThunderRidge HS)
USA Basketball U17 trials invitee; CHSAA Academic All-State honoree
Johanna Paine – Forward, 6-foot (Oregon City, Ore./Oregon City HS)
2011-12 Gatorade State Girls Basketball Player of the Year candidate
Montana Walters – Guard, 5-foot-5 (Oregon City, Ore./Oregon City HS)
2011-12 Three Rivers League co-MVP; 7.3 assists per game, 41% 3PT-FG
Marie Bertholdt – Forward, 6-foot-1 (Alameda, Calif./Alameda HS)
Led Alameda to a fourth-place finish in the 26-team NCS Div. II standings last year
Beth Carlson – Forward, 6-foot (Mill Creek, Wash./Archbishop Murphy HS)
Two-time Cascade Conference MVP; three-straight Cascade Conference titles
read more...

Complete WCC Weekly Release

MEAGAN FULPS, LINDSAY LEO NAMED ONE OF WCC'S BEST PLAYERS
Santa Clara University seniors Meagan Fulps and Lindsay Leo both drew praise recently in preseason West Coast Conference women's basketball polls. Fulps was voted to the official WCC Preseason All-Conference Team by the league's coaches, while College Sports Madness named Leo to its preseason All-WCC First Team. Fulps, a 5-7 off-guard from Littleton, Colorado, enters her senior year ranked 11th all-time at SCU in career scoring avg. (11.3). She has totaled 962 career points and has twice earned both All-WCC postseason honors and WCC All-Academic accolades. Leo was terrific for the Broncos as a junior last season. The homegrown product of San Jose's Archbishop Mitty High School was a 2011-12 All-WCC Honorable Mention pick after averaging 11.6 points and 7.9 rebounds per night in WCC play. Leo's 70 career blocks ranks 5th all-time at SCU.

2012-13 PRESEASON ALL-WCC TEAM
Player School Yr. Pos.
Alex Cowling (LMU) RS-Sr. G/F
Lexi Eaton (BYU) So. G
Meagan Fulps (SCU) Sr. G
Jennifer Hamson (BYU) Jr. C
Amy Kame (USD) Jr. G
Taelor Karr (GU) Sr. G
Danielle Mauldin (SMC) Jr. F
Jackie Nared (SMC) Jr. G
Haiden Palmer (GU) Jr. G
Haley Steed (BYU) Sr. G

2012-13 WCC PRESEASON POLL
Team (First Place Votes)
BYU (5) 61
Gonzaga (4) 60
Saint Mary's 48
San Diego 36
Pepperdine 33
Santa Clara 27
Loyola Marymount 25
Portland 24
San Francisco 10

NEWCOMERS ADD DEPTH, SIZE TO SCU ROSTER
Fifth-year head coach Jennifer Mountain and the Santa Clara University Broncos continue to enhance an already deep roster, adding with four new players this offseason.

"This is a very exciting time for us. I am thrilled with the depth we have on our roster and with the people we are bringing into the program," says Mountain. "Our talent level continues to improve and our collective pool of recruits will help us to compete at a higher level. My assistants have done a great job of targeting student-athletes that fit with the school, our team and our program." read more...

EACH AND EVERY DAY! PHOTO ON INSTAGRAM (santaclarawbb)
The Bronco women's basketball program is on Instagram and will be posting a photo every day of the 2012-13 season. Log on to Instagram via your mobile device and follow santaclarawbb!

RICH BROWN NAMED ASSISTANT COACH THIS OFFSEASON
Rich Brown '77, the director of Santa Clara University women's basketball development the past three years, has been hired by SCU Head Coach Jennifer Mountain as assistant coach. Brown will continue to have a major impact on the program, moving his focus to mentoring the post players, recruiting, scouting and practice planning.

A former Bronco student-athlete, Brown's coaching resume spans 30-plus years, most recently serving as head basketball coach at San Jose's Presentation High School (2001 through 2007).  During his tenure at Presentation, Brown consistently had the Panthers ranked among the region's Top 20 programs according to the San Francisco Chronicle, while competing in the West Catholic Athletic League (WCAL), one of the state's top conferences.

BEST START IN OVER 10 YEARS
The Broncos are looking to repeat its 6-1 start to its season last fall. It was the program's best since SCU went 9-0 to open the 1999-2000 campaign. The team scored over 80 points per game during that stretch, which ranked among the NCAA's leading offenses. Five of those wins came on their home floor at Santa Clara's Leavey Center.

CREATING A CULTURE OF ACADEMIC SUCCESS
Santa Clara's work ethic on the basketball court has translated into success in the classroom. With a team GPA of 3.1, head coach Jennifer Mountain's emphasis on academic prowess continues to pay off, facilitating a culture that has allowed 10 of the team's 16 players to post GPA's above a 3.0 last spring. An array of majors, including Business, Biology, Engineering and Anthropology, make up a wide range of areas that comprise the team's academic pursuits.

"That's something we look for when we're recruiting," said Mountain, who is now in her fifth season at Santa Clara. "The kids that are excelling in the classroom generally are the kids that excel for me on the floor. I've been very blessed. I don't have to worry about them going to class, and worry about eligibility issues or anything like that."

2011-12 SANTA CLARA HIGHLIGHTS
* WCC Honorable Mention – Alyssa Shoji (Sr. G); Lindsay Leo (Jr. F)
* WCC All-Academic – Ashley Armstrong (Jr. G); Meagan Fulps (Jr. G), Ricki Radanovich (So. G) – SCU leads all schools with three honorees
* WCC All-Academic Honorable Mention – Ruta Zurauskyte (Jr. F)
* Broncos improve their win-total for fourth straight season
* SCU finishes regular season No. 10 in NCAA in 3PT shooting (7.6 pg) as a team
* Alyssa Shoji sets new WCC record for three-pointers made (99)
* Alyssa Shoji finishes as WCC's No. 2 all-time leader in 3PT FG (286)
* Alyssa Shoji finishes career No. 4 all-time at SCU in scoring (1,374)
* Alyssa Shoji also No. 1 all-time at SCU in minutes (3,928), No. 7 in assists (327) and No. 5 in FT% (82.2)
* Alyssa Shoji competes in the State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships live on ESPN at the Final Four
* Lindsay Leo's 36 blocked shots ranks No. 6 in single-season SCU history
* Lindsay Leo moves into No. 5 all-time at SCU in blocks (70)
* Meagan Fulps makes 17 free throws Nov. 11, 2011; breaking SCU record
* Ruta Zurauskyte named 'National Player of the Week' by Jesuit Basketball
* Santa Clara's 96 points at Sacramento State is 2nd-most in school history on road
* The team's 6-1 start was its best since the 1999-2000 season
* 10 of team's 16 players boast GPA's above 3.0