SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – With just one game this week, Santa Clara women's basketball fell at San Francisco by a final of 62-45. The loss puts the Broncos at 6-10 overall and 1-6 in WCC action while the Dons are now 11-7 overall and 2-5 in conference play.
Santa Clara returns to the floor Thurs., Jan. 22 at LMU at 7 p.m.
Santa Clara shot 32.1% (17-53) from the field and 17.6% (3-17) from three. The Broncos had 42 rebounds, seven assists, 25 turnovers, six blocks, and five steals. Vanessa Leo led the offense with a double-double (13 points, 12 rebounds). Nici Gilday scored nine with seven rebounds and Marie Bertholdt sored six.
San Francisco shot 36.4% (20-55) from the field and 16.7% (2-12) from three. The Dons had 38 rebounds, eight assists, 13 turnovers, two blocks, and 14 steals. Taylor Proctor led the offense with 24 points on 13-15 shooting from the line and nine rebounds. Paige Spietz scored 10 with six boards while Zhane Dikes had 10 boards and scored nine points.
The first six points for Santa Clara came on a pair of threes from Gilday. A nice move in the lane by Anna Seilund made it 6-5 but Brooke Gallaway came right back with another three at 16:51.
With the game tied at nine, Leo grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in to go along with a foul. Out of the ensuing media timeout Leo finished the three-point play.
The Dons went on a 10-0 run over 4:16 to build a five-point lead. Santa Clara turned the ball over five times during the run and was 0-5 from the field. Santa Clara used a 30-second timeout at 10:28 to regroup. Bertholdt came out of the timeout and made a layup and a free throw to end the run and make the score 21-17.
USF went cold from the field and didn't score for over four minutes while missing eight consecutive field goals. Santa Clara also went cold and was just 1-7 from the field. Kalyn Simon finally scored for the Dons on a short jumper at 3:04 to make the score 30-21. Sidney Rielly answered back with a tough layup off an in bounds pass.
The Broncos held the ball for the final shot of the first half but couldn't convert and the teams went into the half with the score 33-23 in favor of San Francisco.
Santa Clara shot 30.0% (9-30) from the field and 23.1% (3-13) from three in the first half. The Broncos had 24 rebounds, five assists, 13 turnovers, five blocks, and two steals. Gilday led the offense with six points and added four rebounds. Leo grabbed eight rebounds to go with five points while Bertholdt scored five with three boards.
San Francisco shot 31.3% (10-32) from the field and 14.3% (1-7) from three in the first half. The Dons had 25 rebounds, six assists, five turnovers, no blocks, and eight steals. Proctor led the offense 13 points on 7-8 shooting from the free throw line with seven rebounds. Seilund scored eight while Spietz added six.
Santa Clara got within seven in the first four minutes of the second half. Gilday made a layup and Raquel Avila hit two free throws. The Dons hit one of two free throws and the score was 34-27 with 15:35 on the clock.
Proctor passed a ball off of a defender off an in-bounds and put the deflection in and added a free throw. The three-point play for the Dons made the score 39-30 with 10:43 left in the second half.
A 7-0 run over 2:30 put San Francisco up 13-points with just over eight minutes left in the half. Avila ended the run with a short jumper in the lane that made the score 43-32.
The teams traded buckets until Proctor hit a three and followed it up with two from the charity stripe. The five consecutive points put the Dons up 14 with 3:38 remaining in the game. USF was able to hold on for a 17-point win.
