Check out highlights from the game!
Check out photos from the game! (Credit Denis Concordel)
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara women's basketball topped San Francisco State by a final of 67-57 on Wednesday night at the Leavey Center. The win puts the Broncos at 1-3 while the Gators are still 3-0 because the game counted as an exhibition for them only.
Santa Clara returns to the floor Sat., Nov. 23 at 5:30 p.m. vs. UC Santa Barbara.
"I liked the look starting Marie gave us because it allowed us to move Jo to the three and got the offense going," said Santa Clara head coach Jennifer Mountain. "Rocky shot the ball well tonight but I would like to see her get us into a flow a little bit sooner offensively. I was really pleased with her scoring ability tonight and we're going to need that going forward. We got a good lead against them but let up a little bit. It's tough to keep that momentum but we responded and closed out the game."
Santa Clara shot 40.0% (24-60) from the field and 41.2% (7-17) from deep. The Broncos had 49 rebounds, 17 assists, 17 turnovers, two blocks and seven steals. Jo Paine led the offense with 13 points on 5-9 shooting and 3-6 from three. Vanessa Leo had her second double-double in a row with 12 points and 11 boards while Raquel Avila scored 12 points with five rebounds.
San Francisco State shot 30.5% (18-59) from the field and 30.0% (6-20) from three. The Gators had 34 rebounds, 11 assists, 14 turnovers, two blocks and nine steals. Angela Van Sickel led all scorers with 15 points on 4-16 shooting with four steals. Lauren Varney had 13 rebounds to go with eight points.
The Gators scored the first six points of the game on a pair of threes from Brianna Harden and then Madison Rocha. With 17:28 remaining Leo knocked down two free throws to make the score 6-2.
Santa Clara would take the lead on the first career three from Paine at 16:12. The Broncos were on a 7-0 run over 1:21 before Rocha made a layup to put San Francisco State back on top. The next trip down the floor, however, Paine nailed another three, this one from the corner, to give the Broncos the lead again.
The Broncos took a five-point lead on a three from Avila and a layup by Nici Gilday. With 13:32 remaining Jasmine Ruidera stepped to the line and made one of two to make the score 15-11. A Bronco turnover gave the Gators an easy layup and made it a two-point game.
Over 2:54 Santa Clara went on a 10-0 run to make the score 31-15. During that span San Francisco State was 0-4 from the floor with four turnovers. The run finally ended on a pair of free throws from Katie Batlin out of the under-eight media timeout.
The Gators cut the lead to single-digits with an 11-0 run over 4:13, led by Van Sickel's seven points. Santa Clara went 0-6 from the field with five turnovers during the run. The run ended on a layup by Leo with 3:35 to make the score 33-26 Broncos.
The Broncos held on to the ball for the last shot of the first half but couldn't convert and the teams headed into the locker room with the score 39-29.
Santa Clara shot 46.9% (15-32) from the field and 50.0% (5-10) from three in the first half. The Broncos had 25 rebounds, 11 assists, 10 turnovers, one block and five steals. Paine led the offense with 10 points on 4-6 shooting and 2-3 from deep. Leo had eight points and six boards while Avila added eight points and five assists.
San Francisco State shot 28.6% (8-28) from the field and 30.0% (3-10) from deep in the first half. The Gators had 16 rebounds, five assists, 10 turnovers, one block and six steals. Van Sickel led the offense with nine points on 3-8 shooting and three steals. Varney scored four points and had a team-high three rebounds.
Santa Clara went on an 11-0 run over 2:42 early in the second half to get out on top by 20 points at 53-33. The Gators scored again with 13:15 left on a three from Kimmie Fung to make the score 53-36.
Neither team scored for over three minutes until Batlin made a tough turn around jumper in the lane with 10:09 remaining. The Broncos ended their scoring drought at 8:53 on a layup by Leo that made the score 55-38.
The Santa Clara lead was cut to single digits on a three by Jasmine Flanagan at 6:58 but Katie Hawkins stepped to the line for a one-and-one and made the front end to make the score 56-46.
Avila nailed a three with 1:36 left on the clock to put the Broncos up 12 64-52 and forced San Francisco State to call a timeout. The Gators came out of the timeout to score on an offense rebound by Varney.
Van Sickel was fouled shooting a three with 30 seconds left and hit all three to make the score 65-57. Santa Clara broke the press and Marie Bertholdt was fouled
Game Notes: Attendance was 179 … This game counted as an exhibition game for San Francisco State … Courtney Lisowski made her regular season Santa Clara debut with 1:12 remaining in the first half … It was the first career start for Marie Bertholdt.