SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Beginning a four-game road trip, Santa Clara women's basketball lost to San Diego by a final of 79-55. The loss puts the Broncos at 7-12 overall and 3-5 in WCC action while the Toreros are now 16-3 overall and 6-2 in conference play.
Santa Clara returns to the floor Sat., Jan. 25 at 1 p.m. Pacific at BYU.
Santa Clara shot 35.6% (16-45) from the field and 33.3% (5-15) from three. The Broncos had 29 rebounds, six assists, 19 turnovers, and five steals. Jo Paine led the offense with 13 points on 3-6 shooting and 3-5 from downtown. Montana Walters played for the first time in six games and scored 10 points, a career-high, on 3-6 shooting while Raquel Avila had five assists and three steals.
San Diego shot 48.4% (31-64) from the field and 38.5% (5-13) from three. The Toreros had 41 rebounds, 12 assists, 13 turnovers, three blocks, and 10 steals. Sophia Ederaine led the offense with 21 points on 8-13 shooting with eight rebounds and three blocks. Felicia Wijenberg and Malina Hood each scored 16 points while Amy Kame added 14 with eight rebounds.
Santa Clara scored five straight points over 1:40 to put the Broncos on top 10-4 at 14:29 in the first half. Avila led the way with four points while Paine added a free throw. Hood got the Toreros back on the board with a jumper at 14:11.
With the Broncos up 12-11, San Diego went on a 13-0 run over 5:09 to take a 12-point lead. Santa Clara was 0-5 from the field with three turnovers during the stretch. Paine hit two free throws at 6:39 to get Santa Clara within 10 at 24-14.
San Diego got the lead up to 15 with two minutes left in the first half on a free throw by Ederaine but Santa Clara came back with a 8-0 run over 1:24 to get the deficit to single-digits with 36 seconds left on the clock. Wijenberg made a layup at the 15-second mark to send the game to halftime with the score 39-29 Toreros.
Santa Clara shot 45.0% (9-20) from the field and 33.3% (3-9) from three in the first half. The Broncos had 15 rebounds, six assists, 10 turnovers, and two steals. Paine led the offense with 12 points on 3-5 shooting from deep with four rebounds. Gilday scored nine points while Avila had five assists.
San Diego shot 50.0% (15-30) from the field and 37.5% (5-7) from three in the first half. The Toreros had 13 rebounds, seven assists, four turnovers, and six steals. Kame led the offense with 12 points on 5-7 shooting. Ederaine added 11 points on 5-6 from the free throw line while Wijenberg and Kame each scored eight points.
The Toreros started the second half on a 12-0 run over the first 4:20. Ederaine led the way for San Diego with six points during the span. A three by Walters at 15:40 finally got Santa Clara on the board in the second half and made it a 51-32 game.
Down 58-28 at 10:32, Marie Bertholdt went to the line and made a pair of free throws to start a 6-0 Santa Clara run over 3:35. Bertholdt added a jumper and Arteivia Lilomaiava made two free throws to cap the run and make it a 14-poiint San Diego lead.
San Diego answered back and put the game away with a 14-0 run over 5:27. The Broncos went 0-7 from the field during the Torero run. Walters made two free throws to put an end to the run but the score was 72-46 with just 4:12 on the clock.
With 2:28 on the clock, Iman Scott checked in to the game for the first time since the 2010-11 season after missing more than two seasons with injuries. With one minute on the clock, Scott hit a pair of free throws and hit the last jumper of the game with 32 seconds remaining to close out the 79-55 San Diego win.