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SANTA CLARA, Calif. – With a tough schedule right out of the gate, Santa Clara women's basketball starts the regular season with a pair of road games vs. Pac-12 opponents. The Broncos play at Washington Saturday at 2 p.m. and at USC Monday at 4 p.m. Santa Clara won both exhibition games by a total of 69 points. They beat Notre Dame de Namur 90-50 and San Francisco State 71-42.
Last year Santa Clara shot 39.2% (694-1769) from the floor and 29.9% (121-405) from three while shooting 71.4% (396-555) from the free throw line. The Broncos averaged 40.4 rebounds per game, 13.3 assists per game, 7.0 steals per game, and 3.8 blocks per game.
"We are very excited about our nonconference schedule," said Santa Clara head coach JR Payne. "With the WCC being such a tough conference, we felt it was very important to be challenged early and we definitely will be challenged. It's exciting for us to have the opportunity to play such great teams from around the country."
Santa Clara (11-18, 5-13 WCC) will be without 46.1 points per game (70.1%) from last year's team due to graduation for injury. The Broncos top returning scorer and rebounder is Marie Bertholdt whole averaged 9.7 ppg and 7.3 rpg last season. She was second on the team with 25 blocks and started all 29 games. Taylor Berry scored 4.9 ppg and grabbed 4.1 rpg while chipping in 19 steals. Morgan McGwire scored 4.8 ppg to go with 5.1 rpg.
Despite losing so much production from a season ago, Santa Clara welcomes in seven new players in the form of four freshmen and three transfers. The freshmen are Savanna Hanson, Nicole Vander Helm, Dru Toleafoa, and Andraya Flor. The transfers are Devin Hudson (Long Beach State), Lori Parkinson (Southern Utah), and Kyla Martin (East Los Angles College).
Washington (23-10, 11-7 Pac 12) lost to Miami in the opening round of the NCAA tournament in 2015. The team shot 42.95 (846-1974) from the field and 35.4% (262-740) from three on the season. They outscored opponents by an average of 8.8 ppg but were outrebounded by 1.4 per game. The Huskies averaged 12.5 apg to 11.6 tpg.
Kelsey Plum led the Huskies in scoring a season ago with 22.6 ppg and 69 made threes. She chipped in 3.7 rpg to go with 3.3 apg and 1.5 spg. Talia Walton is the other returner that averaged double figures. She scored 13.0 ppg to go with 5.8 rpg and a team-best 44 blocks. The top returning rebounder is Chantel Osahor and her 6.4 board per contest. She added 5.1 ppg as well.
USC (15-15, 7-11 Pac 12) shot 41.0% (774-2889) from the floor last year and 30.7% (117-381) from three. They outscored opponents by an average of 2.9 ppg and outrebounded teams by 2.0 per game. The Trojans averaged 13.8 apg against 14.4 turnovers per game.
The top-returning scorer for the Trojans is Brianna Barrett and her 9.6 ppg. She added 2.1 rpg and 3.6 apg. Jordan Adams scored 7.3 ppg to go with 5.2 rpg. She led the team a year ago with 3.7 apg. Kristen Simon is the top rebounder that returns. She grabbed an average of 5.5 per contest last year and scored 6.7 ppg.