MALIBU, Calif. – With every win being crucial in the close West Coast Conference standings, Santa Clara women's basketball posted a convincing 69-48 win over Pepperdine on the road Thursday night. The victory keeps the Broncos in a tie for fourth in the conference standings.
Santa Clara (13-13, 8-7 WCC) again used its defense to spark its offense. The Broncos forced 23 Pepperdine (7-19, 5-10 WCC) turnovers and collected 12 steals. They turned the Waves' miscues into 25 points.
The Broncos ended the first quarter and started the second on a 12-0 run to take control on the game. Emily Wolph started the run with a 3-pointer and Marie Bertholdt scored eight points over the three-and-a-half-minute stretch, capped by a pair of free throws to make the score 27-12 with nine minutes to go in the opening half.
Bertholdt led all scorers with 20 points and was 7-for8 from the free throw line. She also added nine rebounds and three assists. Wolph scored 18 and knocked down five 3-pointers. Lori Parkinson scored 10 with eight boards.
Kayla Blair did her best to keep the game interesting with a 6-0 run of her own over a minute in the second quarter. She capped the stretch at the 7:41 mark to get the Waves' deficit down to 27-18.
Blair was the only Wave in double-figures with 17 points on 4-for-6 shooting from beyond the arc.
Santa Clara struggled from the floor in the second quarter, going just 1-for-12. Pepperdine was unable to take advantage as the Waves got off just eight shots in the period and never got closer than 33-27.
Santa Clara used a 10-0 run over three minutes in the first quarter to take the lead for good. Wolph started the run with back-to-back 3-pointers and the Broncos found themselves on top 13-4 after five minutes of action.
The Broncos stretched their lead to 55-37 with a 10-2 run over the final 2:46 of the third quarter and closed the game one a 15-5 run.
Santa Clara is back in action Saturday at San Diego at 2 p.m.
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