SAN DIEGO, Calif. – After leading almost the entire first 34 minutes, Santa Clara women's basketball lost to San Diego by a final of 72-59. The loss puts the Broncos at 5-8 overall and 0-4 in WCC play while the Toreros are now 12-2 and 3-1 in conference action.
Santa Clara shot 37.1% (23-62) from the field and 20.0% (2-10) from three. The Broncos had 34 rebounds, 11 assists, 20 turnovers, five blocks, and 10 steals. Nici Gilday led the offense with 25 points on 10-25 shooting with two rebounds and two steals. Marie Bertholdt added nine points with five rebounds and three blocks while Raquel Avila scored eight with five steals.
San Diego shot 35.1% (20-57) from the field and 37.5% (6-16) from three. The Toreros had 47 rebounds, 13 assists, 21 turnovers, 10 blocks, and 13 steals. Malina Hood led the offense with 14 points and five assists. Maya Hood had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Katelyn McDaniel scored 11 points with nine rebounds.
A three by Cori Woodward with 17:23 on the clock put San Diego up 5-4 but Brooke Gallaway came right back with a pair of free throws to put the Broncos on top. Avila followed with a layup to make the score 8-5.
Hood tied the game at 10 with a three at 13:35 but Taylor Berry came right back with a layup on the other end to put the Broncos back on top. Berry was fouled on the bucket but couldn't convert the three-point play.
Out of the under-12 media timeout, Hood made a pair of free throws. Bertholdt answered with a three-point play to put Santa Clara up five points. The Toreros hit three consecutive free throws to make the score 17-15 with 10 and a half minutes left in the opening half.
Four straight points for San Diego tied the game with 8:36 on the clock. After trading baskets, Sydney Williams made a free throw to give the Toreros a one-point lead. With 6:20 left Gilday converted a three-point play to give Santa Clara the 27-25 lead.
Santa Clara built up a three-point lead with 4:10 remaining in the half on a free throw by Maddison Allen and a jumper by Gilday. May. Hood hit two free throws to make it 30-29 but Gilday made a layup to get the Bronco lead back up to three.
The Broncos went on a 7-0 run over three minutes at the end of the first half. San Diego was on a three-minute scoring drought with three turnovers before Woodward hit a three in the final seconds to send the teams to the locker room with the score 37-32.
Santa Clara shot 46.7% (14-30) from the field and 33.3% (1-3) from three in the first half. The Broncos had 17 rebounds, nine assists, seven turnovers, four blocks, and six steals. Gilday led the offense with 10 points on 4-9 shooting. Berthold scored nine with two rebounds, two assists, and two blocks while Avila scored six points with three steals.
San Diego shot 21.9% (7-32) from the field and 33.3% (4-12) from three in the first half. The Toreros had 29 rebounds, four assists, 12 turnovers, four blocks, and five steals. Woodward led the offense with 11 points and three rebounds. May. Hood scored eight points on 6-6 shooting from the free throw line with four rebounds.
The Toreros tied the game at 39-39 with 15:17 on the clock when Katherine Hamilton made a layup. Berry answered with a tough bucket in the lane on the ensuing Bronco possession.
San Diego tied the game again but Santa Clara came back with four straight points. Gilday hit a jumper and Avila made a layup with 11:12 left in the second half.
A long two by Alexandria Young made the Bronco lead just one with eight and a half minutes remaining. After two minutes without any scoring, Hamilton made a layup to put San Diego on top by one. Gilday came right back at 6:11 to give Santa Clara the 51-50 lead.
Santa Clara went cold from the field, hitting just one of seven shots while the Toreros made seven straight. McDaniel made a jumper and Sophia Ederaine hit a pair of free throws to give San Diego its largest lead of the night at three-points. A turnover by Santa Clara gave the ball back to San Diego and McDaniel converted a three-point play.
The Toreros would end up going on a 10-0 run to go up nine points with 4:45 on the clock. Gilday finally ended the run with a jumper to make the score 60-53. The Broncos called a 30-second timeout after the bucket.
A fast break layup by McDaniel gave San Diego a double-digit lead for the first time at 64-53. Two free throws from Gilday out of the final media timeout got the deficit back to single-digits at nine.
With 1:36 left in the game, Mal. Hood hit a three to make it a 13-point game. Both teams made a free throw and the Toreros escaped with the win.