SANTA CLARA, Calif. – In the first conference action of the season, Santa Clara women's basketball beat BYU 64-63 Thursday night in Leavey. It was the first win for Santa Clara over BYU since the programs' first meeting on Dec. 5, 1998 when the Broncos came away with a 76-64 victory in Santa Clara. The Cougars had won 13 in a row.
With Santa Clara on top 64-63, Kalani Purcell pulled down one of her game-high 15 rebounds on a missed free throw by Morgan McGwire with 17 seconds to go. After a BYU timeout, the Broncos used their two fouls to give to run the clock down to just 7.7. Purcell took the final attempt of the night on an inbounds pass but her shot from outside the key hit the side rim and the ball bounced out as the buzzer sounded.
"I'm proud of the team," Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said. "This conference is crazy good. I knew that when I signed up for the job. Every night is going to be a war and there are a lot of good teams and a lot of good coaches. BYU is a one of those good teams. This is just one of 18 and we have to remember that and get ready for the next one but I'm really happy for the team to get a win to start conference play."
Santa Clara (6-6, 1-0 WCC) forced 23 BYU (6-6, 0-1 WCC) turnovers and held a 23-6 advantage in points off turnovers. Emily Wolph and Lori Parkinson both picked up three steals and McGwire and Taylor Berry had two each.
McGwire and Wolph combined for 30 points to lead the Santa Clara offense. McGwire scored a team-high 16 and Wolph scored 14 while hitting three from beyond the arc. Marie Bertholdt grabbed a team-best seven rebounds and scored 11 while Parkinson added eight and six boards.
VIDEO | McGwire/Wolph postgame + highlights from @SantaClaraWBB's victory over BYU! #StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos https://t.co/CIOHDK5IfK pic.twitter.com/6Jg2JNJcY5
— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) December 30, 2016
"Emily and Morgan scored at opportune times," Carr said. "We got contributions from a lot of people in tonight's game, both offensively and defensively. The team is starting to believe in our defense, whether it's zone or man. This program is going to be built on defense."
Back-to-back triples for the Cougars put them on a 6-0 run over just 34 seconds in the second quarter. Purcell hit the first and Cassie Broadhead followed it up with one of her own to make the score 36-24 BYU with 3:07 to go in the first half.
The Broncos answered right back with 10 straight of their own. After an easy layup for Berry, Wolph and Bertholdt drilled 3-pointers and Parkinson capped it off with a layup to get Santa Clara within 36-34.
"We looked a little nervous and a little over-amped in the second quarter," Carr said. "They got up 12 so we called timeout to calm the team down a little bit. It wasn't anything magical. We talked to them a little and then we got back into it. We carried that into the second half where I thought we were gutty."
Broadhead led all scorers with 21 and was a perfect 10 of 10 from the free throw line. Purcell had a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds but also committed nine turnovers.
A pair of free throws by Broadhead with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter put BYU up 61-55. Wolph answered with a 3-pointer and McGwire followed with a layup. After a bucket by Shalae Salmon, Santa Clara got a basket from McGwire and two free throws from Parkinson at the 1:53 mark to make the score 64-63.
The teams combined to miss their final four shots from the field and two from the free throw line.
The Broncos return to the floor Saturday at 2 p.m. at San Francisco.
This was the first West Coast Conference win for Carr who is in his first year at Santa Clara.
Connect with the Broncos on Social Media
Athletics: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Women's Basketball: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
