SANTA CLARA, Calif. – On Senior Day, Santa Clara women's basketball ended the regular season with a 73-58 loss to Saint Mary's. The Broncos finish the regular season with the sixth seed in the upcoming West Coast Conference tournament.
The Gaels (18-11, 13-5 WCC) dominated the Broncos (14-15, 9-9 WCC) on the interior. They held a 40-25 edge in rebounds and a 32-22 lead in points in the paint.
Santa Clara also struggled from the field, shooting 32-percent and were just 5-for-27 from beyond the arc.
Saint Mary's used a 13-0 run started by back-to-back 3-pointers from Samira McDonald and Devyn Galland at the end of the first quarter and start of the second and put some distance between the two teams. Marie Bertholdt finally ended the run with a 3-pointerat 5:14 to make it a 29-15 game.
Sydney Raggio led all scorers with 17 points and had nine rebounds to go with six assists. McKay scored 13 on 5-for-8 shooting from the floor and Galland scored 12, all on 3-pointers.
"Saint Mary's was good today," Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said. "Give them all the credit. They took it to us and got us on our heels."
The Broncos turned up the defensive pressure in the fourth quarter and it resulted in an 16-3 run. Lori Parkinson and Taylor Berry forced a pair of turnovers and Emily Wolph capitalized with a 3-pointer at the 2:32 mark.
In her final game at Leavey, senior Bertholdt led the Broncos with 13 points and had six rebounds. Fellow senior Parkinson scored 12 and had six rebounds while Beth Carlson scored one point and had two boards.
"Those three mean a ton to this program with their leadership and work ethic," Carr said. "They're going to leave a great legacy here."
VIDEO | Watch the @SantaClaraWBB senior day clips that played on Leavey's video board! #StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos https://t.co/SNcjA0Onmk pic.twitter.com/0qPsQXYD4H
— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) February 28, 2017
The Broncos next action is at the West Coast Conference Tournament in Las Vegas. Santa Clara will play Thursday at 6 p.m. vs. Saint Mary's.
"If you're a competitor, which we have a ton of, you get this one out of your system and get ready to go to Las Vegas and let things rip and see what happens," Carr said. "We're going to have to be ready to go on Thursday night."
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