Nov. 27, 2001
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Senior guard Becki Ashbaugh came off the bench and scored 21 points to lead the Santa Clara University women's basketball team to a 73-58 victory over San Jose State in the 2001 Clash of the County tonight at the Leavey Center. With the win, the Broncos improve to 4-1, while the Spartans are handed their first loss of the season to fall to 2-1.
Ashbaugh shot 6-of-11 from the field, including three of the team's nine three-pointers. She made all six of her free throw attempts and added six assists and five rebounds to her efforts to lead all scorers. The Spartans were led by Elea A'Giza 17-point, 10-rebound performance, while Cricket Williams added 16 points, 14 of which came in the first half.
The Broncos opened with their first three-pointer just 18 seconds into the contest, but San Jose State opened up an eight-point advantage midway through the first half, with 10 of the Spartans 19 points coming from Williams. Scores by the Broncos' Kendra Rhea and Caroline Greening helped SCU pull within two, while an Ashbaugh jumper tied the game at 19. SJSU reacted with its own run to go back up by seven points, but two treys by Ashbaugh in the final two minutes helped Santa Clara pull to within one point at intermission.
"We couldn't get our motor going in the first half," Santa Clara head coach Chris Denker said. "We were watching them make all the hustle plays. We needed to find a way to generate some energy and ironically enough, slowing the game down did that. We went to the zone and that helped us settle ourselves and generate some transition baskets and get into the game."
Santa Clara came out strong in the second half, with a 15-6 run to pull ahead by eight at 49-41 midway through the period and shot 42 percent from the field in the frame for the victory.
Also reaching double figures for the Broncos were junior forward Julie Butler (17 points), Gruening (12 points) and freshman guard Quinn Thomas (13 rebounds).
Although the Broncos next match is on the road, they will remain in the Bay Area, driving up the Peninsula to take on seventh-ranked Stanford (5-0) on Sunday. That game is slated to begin at 2 p.m. at Maples Pavilion.
