LAS VEGAS – Seventh-seeded Santa Clara women's basketball took care of 10th seed Pacific 93-69 Thursday afternoon in the first round of the West Coast Conference Tournament from the Orleans Arena. The 93 points was the team's most this season.
On offense, it was the Lindsey VanAllen and Merle Wiehl show for the Broncos (15-14) but seven others got in the scoring column with all of them making at least one field goal. VanAllen finished with 31, one off her career-high and her third 30-point game this season. She was 9-of-19 from the field and connected one three 3-pointers as well. Wiehl scored 20 on 8-of-16 shooting and added 10 boards for the double-double.
The Tigers (6-23) hung around in the first half thanks to shooting 58.3-percent from the floor but cooled down and shot 25.9-percent in the second half to finish at 41.2. Santa Clara, meanwhile, shot 43.8-percent in the first half and 52.6-percent in the second to end up at 47.9. They were also 10-of-23 from downtown.
Things really began to swing in the Broncos' favor in the third quarter when they outscored the Pacific 30-15 while shooting 12-of-16, including making their last nine shots, as Pacific was just 4-of-14. During the period, Wiehl had a stretch of nine straight Santa Clara points.
Despite battling foul trouble, Lana Hollingsworth scored 10 with Ashley Hiraki dishing out seven assists to go with seven points.
Elizabeth Elliott led Pacific with 15 points thanks to 9-of-13 shooting from the free throw line. Anaya James added 12 points with six boards and Cecilia Holmberg chipped in 11 on 4-of-5 shooting.
NOTES
- Santa Clara is now 33-27 all-time against San Diego.
- The Broncos had 22 assists on 35 made baskets. They also won the battle of the boards 48-30 and 15-4 on the offensive glass.
- Lindsey VanAllen is now at 1,328 career points, good for seventh all-time at Santa Clara. Next is Chandice Cronk (2004-08) with 1,346.
- The Broncos were without Lexie Pritchard who was injured at Long Beach State. Her return is uncertain. Ashlee Maldonado is also out and will miss the entire season.
NEXT UP
Santa Clara faces sixth-seeded San Diego tomorrow at 2 p.m.
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