Check out photos from the game!
PALO ALTO, Calif. – Playing a nationally-ranked foe on the road, Santa Clara women's basketball knocked off No. 13/10 Stanford 61-58 on Monday night. It was the first win for the Broncos over Stanford since an 81-65 victory in Santa Clara on Dec. 4, 1998 and the first win in Palo Alto for the Broncos since Nov. 21, 1984 when they came away with a 69-46 win.
The upset was the first nonconference home loss against an unranked team for the Cardinal since Florida State took them down March 19, 2007 in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Senior transfer Devin Hudson led Santa Clara (2-2) with 12 points on 5 of 10 shooting from the field and grabbed eight rebounds. Lori Parkinson scored 11 with a team-high nine boards while Morgan McGwire also scored 11 and grabbed seven rebounds. Savanna Hanson hit big free throws down the stretch and collected five steals.
"Big does not even begin to describe the enormity of being able to come in and compete with such a great team," said Santa Clara head coach JR Payne. "A lot of our success came from our toughness. Our goal was to win the 50-50 balls and really compete on the glass. Against a team like this with so much talent and that is so well coached, we didn't want to go individual-to-individual so we focused on playing a great team game. Everybody had each other's back. This is a huge step for us. We're just trying to inch our way up to be a strong team in this area with a lot of great teams and in a great conference."
After Stanford tied the game at 47-all with 4:17 left in the game, McGwire hit a pair of free throws and Hudson put back her own missed layup just more than a minute later to give the Broncos a four-point cushion.
"It feels amazing. I'm still in shock. It was a great team effort all across the board," said Hudson. "We talked to each other on the court the entire time, which is huge for us. I think I thanked Morgan [McGwire] about five times for having my back. It was just a great effort by the whole team. All week the coaches were preaching toughness and it paid off."
Stanford's Lili Thompson hit a 3-pointer with 2:48 left to chop the lead to 51-50, but the Broncos reeled off six straight points.
Then with time winding down and the Broncos up five, Thompson drained a three to make the score 60-58 with just 13 seconds on the clock. After Hanson knocked down a free throw, a desperation three by Thompson was no good and Santa Clara celebrated at the final buzzer.
Santa Clara grabbed 23 offensive rebounds and forced 26 Stanford turnovers. The Broncos held the Cardinal to just 25.0 percent (6 of 24) shooting in the first half and had 15 steals for the game.
"Both Morgan [McGwire] and Lori [Parkinson] are capable of having big games like tonight where they bring the intangibles," said Payne. "I'm really proud of Morgan. I saw her rip some balls and get on the floor. We'd like to shoot better than 1 for 16 from three but if we can have these types of intangibles then we'll always have a chance."
Stanford (3-1) was led by Thompson's 21 points on 5 of 11 shooting from three. Erica McCall had a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards while Karlie Samuelson scored eight and hit two threes.
With Santa Clara up 10 points, Stanford went on an 8-0 run over 1:23 in the fourth quarter to grab the momentum. The Broncos were 0-6 from the field during a three-minute scoring drought. Hudson grabbed an offensive rebound and went to the line for a pair to get the Broncos back on the board.
The Cardinal were able to tie the game with 4:17 on the clock in the fourth quarter but Santa Clara answered right back with a 7-0 run over three minutes.
Stanford got out to a three-point lead early in the third quarter but the Broncos came charging back with a 7-0 run to take a 31-27 lead. Brooke Gallaway hit a big three and Parkinson hit a break away layup to cap the run.
Due to a malfunctioning shot clock with four minutes to go in the second quarter, there was a 15-minute delay on the court. After the issue was resolved, Stanford came out and hit a three to cut the deficit in half. The Cardinal would end up on a 6-0 run over two and a half minute to tie the game.
"I've never been a part of something like that," said Payne of the long delay. "We just tried to stay loose and kept talking about what we were going to do on each end of the floor. It didn't go well for us in the minute following the stoppage but it worked out."
The Broncos pushed the lead to double-digits for the first time in the final minute of the third quarter. Parkinson scored six straight points for Santa Clara and the Broncos took a 41-33 lead into the final quarter of action.
Santa Clara started the game on an 8-2 run over the first eight minutes on buckets from four different players. The Bronco defense held Stanford to just 1-10 from the field and forced seven turnovers. The Cardinal ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to make it an 8-all game at the end of the first.
Stanford took the lead briefly to start the second on a free throw but the Broncos came roaring back and midway through the quarter got the lead up to 19-13 on a jumper by Taylor Berry and a fast break layup by Kyla Martin.
Santa Clara returns to action Friday at 3 p.m. at Cal Poly in the Cal Poly/ShareSLO Holiday Tournament.
July 21, 2016
Women's Basketball Adds Two International Players
July 11, 2016
Former Women's Basketball Coach Ken Thompson Passes Away
June 2, 2016
Leavey Center Court Open for Business
April 15, 2016
Carr to Head Women's Basketball Program
March 28, 2016
Payne to Become Colorado Women’s Basketball Coach
March 15, 2016
Women's Basketball Takes On Fresno State in WNIT Friday
March 11, 2016
Leavey Center Getting a Facelift
March 1, 2016
Bertholdt and Parkinson Named First Team All-WCC
February 28, 2016
Women’s Basketball Seeded No. 4 in WCC Tournament
February 27, 2016
Women's Basketball Wins Season Finale at Pacific
February 26, 2016
Regular Season Wraps Up for Women's Basketball at Pacific
February 25, 2016
Women's Basketball Falls to Saint Mary's on Senior Day
February 22, 2016
Marie Bertholdt Named West Coast Conference Player of the Week
February 20, 2016
Bertholdt's Career Day Leads Women's Basketball Over Pepperdine
February 19, 2016
Women's Basketball Hosts Pepperdine Saturday
February 19, 2016
Three Women's Basketball Players Honored by WCC for Academic Work
February 18, 2016
Women's Basketball Rolls to 20th Win with 27-Point Victory
February 16, 2016
Women's Basketball Returns Home to Face LMU
February 13, 2016
Late Comeback Attempt Comes Up Short for Women's Basketball at BYU
February 12, 2016
Women's Basketball Picks Up Big Road Win at San Diego
February 12, 2016
Women's Basketball Travels to First Place BYU
February 9, 2016
Women's Basketball Starts Tough Road Trip at San Diego Thursday
February 5, 2016
Women's Basketball Wins Thriller at San Francisco
February 2, 2016
Women's Basketball Travels Up the Road to San Francisco Thursday
January 30, 2016
Women's Basketball Cruises by Pilots
January 29, 2016
Women's Basketball Takes Down Gonzaga for First Time in 10 Years
January 29, 2016
Women's Basketball Faces Portland Saturday to Finish Homestand
January 26, 2016
Women's Basketball Hosts Gonzaga Thursday at 6 p.m.
January 23, 2016
Fourth Quarter Runs Lift Women's Basketball Over San Francisco
January 16, 2016
Defensive Stand Lifts Women's Basketball Past Loyola Marymount
January 15, 2016
Women's Basketball Holds on at Pepperdine
January 15, 2016
Road Trip Wraps Up for Women's Basketball at LMU
January 12, 2016
Trip to Southern California Up Next for Women's Basketball
January 8, 2016
Tough Fourth Quarter Sinks Women's Basketball vs. BYU
January 8, 2016
Women's Basketball Returns to Action Saturday vs. San Diego
January 5, 2016
Women's Basketball Welcomes BYU to Leavey Thursday
December 31, 2015
Women's Basketball Beats Portland for 12th Straight Win
December 23, 2015
Seeking 12th Straight Win, Women's Basketball Heads to Portland
December 22, 2015
Women's Basketball Heads to Rival Saint Mary's Wednesday
December 21, 2015
Victory in WCC Opener Pushes Winning Streak to 10 For Women's Basketball
December 19, 2015
West Coast Conference Play Opens for Women's Basketball vs. Pacific
December 16, 2015
Nonconference Play Wraps Up for Women's Basketball with UC Santa Barbara
December 12, 2015
Women's Basketball Takes Down Texas Tech, 75-70
December 11, 2015
Morgan McGwire Receives National Jesuit Player of the Week Honors
December 10, 2015
Home Matchup with Texas Tech on Tap for Women's Basketball
December 6, 2015
Women's Basketball Faces Hope International Sunday Afternoon
December 6, 2015
Two Double-Doubles Lead Women's Basketball Over Hope International
December 5, 2015
Women’s Basketball Rolls Past Simpson, 112-34
December 2, 2015
Basketball Holiday Ticket Special Available Through Friday
November 30, 2015
Morgan McGwire Named West Coast Conference co-Player of the Week
November 30, 2015
Women's Basketball Back in Action for Three Games This Week
November 27, 2015
McGwire's Career Day Leads Women's Basketball to Third-Straight Win
November 24, 2015
Women's Basketball Knocks Off No. 13/10 Stanford on the Road
November 22, 2015
Women's Basketball Travels Up the Road to Stanford Monday
November 21, 2015
Women's Basketball Doubles Up Air Force for First Win of the Season
November 19, 2015
Meet the Future of Santa Clara Women's Basketball: Tamia Braggs
November 18, 2015
Meet the Future of Santa Clara Women's Basketball: Ashlyn Herhily
November 17, 2015
Meet the Future of Santa Clara Women's Basketball: Naomi Jimenez
November 16, 2015
Season-Opening Road Trip Ends with Loss at USC for Women's Basketball
November 14, 2015
Women's Basketball Falls in Opener at Washington
November 12, 2015
Women's Basketball Signs Three National Letters of Intent
November 12, 2015
Women's Basketball Opens Season with Pac 12 Road Swing
October 30, 2015
Santa Clara Basketball Tickets Now Available
October 28, 2015
Women's Basketball Set for 2015-16 Season; Exhibition Opener Friday
September 14, 2015
Women's Basketball Releases 2015-16 Schedule
August 26, 2015
Welcome the Future of Women's Basketball: Andraya Flor