SANTA CLARA, Calif. – In the final nonconference action at Leavey this season, Santa Clara women's basketball fell to Northwestern 87-75 Saturday afternoon.
The Broncos (3-5) were in foul trouble the entire way, committing 32 fouls to just 19 called against the Wildcats (10-1). Five Santa Clara players had at least four fouls. Santa Clara was outscored at the free throw line 29-10 and Northwestern also held in the advantage in free throws attempted 38-18.
Despite Santa Clara being forced to rely on its bench for significant minutes, the game was close until the Wildcats rattled off 11 consecutive points over the final 1:30 of the third and first two minutes of the fourth to build their lead to 66-54 with eight minutes to go in the final period. Five of the first six points during the run came from the charity stripe.
"We battled today for sure and we did it against a really good team," Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said. "For three quarters we were right there and then our foul trouble caught up with us. We got some people off the bench that don't normally come in that early. Credit to them, they came in and held it together. The foul trouble was partly Northwestern putting pressure on us and partly us being in the wrong spots and fouling without needing to."
The duo of Nia Coffey and Christen Inman paced the Northwestern offense with a combined 45 points. Coffey had a double-double with 23 points and 16 rebounds while shooting 7 of 19 from the field and 8 of 14 from the free throw line. Inman was 9 of 15 from the floor for 22 points.
"They're really good players and came as advertised," Carr said. "We tried everything we could and it only worked for about 31 minutes. My team kept battling, kept competing, and improved today. Now we have to regroup and get ready for a really good Oklahoma State team."
VIDEO | @SantaClaraWBB highlights from today's matchup with Northwestern #StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos FULL CLIP: https://t.co/5XKkrc5iXB pic.twitter.com/7dG3oElxGJ
— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) December 18, 2016
Northwestern also won the battle of the boards 48-33. The Wildcats had a 20-2 advantage in second chance points thanks to 14 offensive boards.
After back-to-back triples by Ashley Deary and Coffey put the Wildcats on a quick 6-0 run and put them back on top, Emily Wolph answered with a 3-pointer of her own to give the Broncos a 22-21 lead with eight minutes to go in the half.
Wolph led the Broncos with a career-high 24 points on 9 of 16 shooting from the floor and 5 of 9 from beyond the arc. She also added five assists.
Lori Parkinson just missed a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds while Morgan McGwire added 12 and seven boards to go with four assists.
The Broncos took control early on with an 8-0 run over 2:21 in the first quarter to take a 14-8 lead with 2:21 to go in the period. Parkinson converted a three-point play and Naomi Jimenez drained a triple to lead the charge.
Santa Clara continued to share the basketball, picking up 23 assists on 28 made field goals.
The Broncos to action with three games in three days at the Play 4 Kay Shootout in Las Vegas beginning Monday at 5:30 p.m. vs. Oklahoma State.
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