SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara women's basketball opened the 2018-19 regular season with a bang, topping Sonoma State 98-38 in Leavey Center Tuesday night.
The Broncos (1-0) shot an impressive 59-percent from the field while getting double-figures from five players and points from all but one. They also had 24 assists on 36 made baskets.
"We had good ball movement tonight," Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said. "I thought we shared the ball great. We did a nice job of finding the right person at the right time."
Tia Hay led the way with 21 points on 10-for-14 shooting from the field while also adding five rebounds and four steals. Joeseta Fatuesi scored 11 with Emily Wolph, Ashlyn Herlihy, and Lauren Yearwood all scoring 10.
"We thought going in we were going to have more depth than we have in the past," Carr said. "Tonight we got really good balanced minutes. Everybody made a contribution and everybody made some good plays. We'll go back and watch film and see where we can get better.
On the flip side, Santa Clara held the Seawolves (0-1) to just 20-percent shooting, including a 15-minute stretch in the second half without a field goal and just 1-for-19 from beyond the arc.
"I thought they had a really good plan against our zone early and then the girls did a nice job of figuring it out on their own," Carr said. "Then we started to make it harder for them to score. I was happy with that."
With the score 12-9 midway through the first, Santa Clara rattled off 19 points in a row to blow the game open. The run began with a layup from Joeseta Fatuesi with 4:17 in the first quarter and concluded at the 6:37 mark of the second quarter when Lexie Pritchard scored on a fast break.
The Broncos also used a 27-1 run in the third quarter and got the lead to as high as 93-29 in the fourth with Sonoma State going from 9:23 in the third to 4:43 in the fourth without knocking down a field goal.
The lone Seawolves player in double-figures was Ugochi Anudokem who scored 15 and was 9-for-10 from the charity stripe. Zane Seckherd was the next highest scorer with five points.
QUOTABLE
VIDEO | Hear from Tia Hay who led all scorers with 21 in #SCUBroncos 98-38 season-opening win over Sonoma State Tuesday night in Leavey Center. #StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/SMY9knVhiV
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) November 7, 2018
NOTES
- Santa Clara is now 2-0 all-time against Sonoma State.
- It was the Santa Clara debut for Tia Hay, Lauren Yearwood, Lindsey VanAllen, Joeseta Fatuesi, Erica Meyer, and Lexie Pritchard.
- The Bronco defense forced 22 turnovers and converted them into 31 points while allowing just six points off turnovers.
- Santa Clara had a 47-22 edge on the glass and a 50-8 lead in points in the paint.
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The Broncos remain at home and take on Nevada Saturday at 4 p.m.
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