Dec. 21, 2001
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Junior forward Tammy Annas led the Santa Clara University women's basketball team to its fifth straight victory, this one a 73-49 win over Portland State in non-conference tonight at the Leavey Center.
She posted a game-high 15 points to improve Santa Clara to 9-2 on the season. Jill Feller led the Vikings with 12 points while Sarah Hedgepeth posted six rebounds, but PSU fell to 5-6 on the season.
Portland State jumped out to a 5-0 lead before the Broncos ran off eight straight points, including three-pointers by senior guard Caroline Gruening and Annas. Annas scored another three during the team's next trip down the court to push the SCU lead to 11-7. The Broncos remained hot from the outside as reserve junior guard Jennifer Bradley sank two threes as Santa Clara made 7-11 from behind the arc in the first period.
But the Broncos were hot inside too. Freshman forward Kim Butler came into the game and scored on a post move, a put-back and 15-foot jumper--all within two minutes--as the Broncos extended their lead. Sophomore forward Jennie Rondel found Butler all alone under the basket for her eighth point of the half, and then shared the ball with an assist to a Gruening lay-up as SCU was now up by 11 points, 32-21 with five minutes remaining in the period. Santa Clara extended the lead to 41-25 at intermission, and finished the half shooting 56.7 percent from the field, the third straight half the Broncos have surpassed .500 shooting.
A free throw by Butler's sister Julie early in the second period doubled Kim's lead to 20 points at 47-27. The second half was highlighted by junior forward Courtney Cushing's first appearance of the season with just over 11 minutes remaining in the contest. She made an immediate impact on the game, going 3-3 from the field with four rebounds in just eight minutes of action. She had missed the first 10 games of the season after fracturing her foot in practice a week before the exhibition season opened.
Kim Butler finished with a career-high 12 points.
Santa Clara returns to the Leavey Center after the holidays and hosts CS Northridge at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 29.
