SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Playing for the first time in the 2013-14 season, Santa Clara women's basketball beat Sonoma State in an exhibition game by a final of 81-47. Two freshmen started while six players saw their first action in a Santa Clara uniform.
"I really thought that we set the tempo in the first half of what we want to look like the rest of the year," said Santa Clara head coach Jennifer Mountain. "We got a lot of people in this ball game but our main group did a good job setting tempo. It's all about transition buckets and we had a lot of lay up opportunities because our defense fueled of rebounds. I thought our point guards did a nice job of finding players."
Santa Clara shot 48.5% from the field and 18.2% from deep. The Broncos had 60 rebounds, 21 assists, four blocks and 11 steals. Vanessa Leo led all scorers with 14 points on 7-10 shooting from the field while also pulling down 12 boards for the double-double. Jo Paine also had 12 boards and scored nine points while Ricki Radanovich had 11 points. Marie Bertholdt was the other Bronco to score in double figures, with 10.
Sonoma State shot 19.4% from the field and 27.3% from deep. The Sea Wolves had 37 rebounds, six assists, five blocks and five steals. Tanner Adams led the offense with 13 points on 5-10 shooting. Hannah Green scored 12 while pulling in five rebounds and Natalie Del Carlo had a team-high seven rebounds.
Freshman Paine got the scoring started on the Broncos' first possession and Nici Gilday slashed to the hoop two possessions later to make the score 4-2 Santa Clara in the early going.
Santa Clara took an 11-5 lead into the under-16 minute timeout and continued the fast pace while getting out on top 16-5 on a three and a pair of free throws.
Sonoma State nailed a three to get within eight but the Broncos answered with a layup on the other end just before the 13-minute mark. Another bucket forced the Sea Wolves to call timeout.
Santa Clara continued its run, pushing the run to 13-3 over 3:48 before the second media timeout.
The run continued as Radanovich nailed a three from the right elbow to push the lead to 25-8. After another defensive stop, Leo got behind the defense and a nice pass from Montana Walters found her for the lay in.
The 11-0 Santa Clara run when Hanna Sourek hit a free throw at the 10:15 mark to make the score 27-9 Broncos. Tanner Adams answered on the other end with a three from the right corner.
Walters made a beautiful pass through two defenders on a fast break at the 8:01 mark to Radanovich for the easy layup that extended the Santa Clara lead to 20 points, 30-11, just before the media timeout.
Hannah Green nailed a three and a jumper on back-to-back possessions for a 5-0 run before Paine and Leo connected for an easy layup at 5:49 to make the score 35-17.
Santa Clara went on a 13-0 run over the last three minutes of the half to take a 50-17 lead into the locker room. The half ended on a last second layup by Bertholdt from Walters.
Santa Clara shot 66.7% (22-33) from the field and 33.3% (2-6) from three in the first half. The Broncos pulled down 31 rebounds and had 14 assists to go with six steals. Radanovich led the way with 11 points while Leo added 10. Leo also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Walters had four assists while Gilday added nine points.
Sonoma State shot 17.1% from the field and 40.0% (4-10) from three in the half. The Sea Wolves grabbed 15 rebounds and had four assists and three steals. Green and Adams led the way with five points each whole Del Carlo had a team-high three rebounds.
The Broncos came out of the locker room and turned over three times in the first few minutes of the second half but were able to maintain their lead.
At the 12:13 mark Adams knocked down a deep three to make the score 64-26 Broncos.
A loose ball with 10:21 left in the half rolled to the feet of Adams who hit another three to get the score to 66-31 but the Broncos with a basketball off of an inbounds pass to make the lead 37 at 68-31.
The Sea Wolves went on a 10-0 run over four minutes to make the score 68-43 with 6:39 remaining. The Broncos were 0-9 from the field with four turnovers during the run. Beth Carlson stepped to the line at the 5:09 mark and knocked down a pair of free throws to end the run and make the score 70-41.
Just out of the under four media timeout, Bertholdt sank a pair of free throws to put the Broncos back on top by 30 at 72-42. Avila followed with a pair of free throws as well at 2:49.
With 1:12 remaining in the game, Carlson got the ball down low and knocked down a layup while being fouled. The missed free throw kept the score at 79-44.
Santa Clara and Sonoma State exchanged buckets and the game ended with the Broncos winning 81-47.
Game Notes: Attendance was 385 … It was the first collegiate action for Marie Bertholdt, Montana Walters, Jo Paine, Taylor Williams and Courtney Lisowski.