Nov. 4, 2005
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara women's basketball team looked like they hadn't missed a beat since the end of the 2004-05 campaign as they used 14 three-pointers to overwhelm the Sonoma State Seawolves 106-75 in an exhibition match Friday night at the Leavey Center.
Senior Michelle Cozad led the way for the Broncos as she poured in 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including four treys. Chandice Cronk and Kayla Huss also hit a trio of threes apiece for 17 and 13 points, respectively. In all, six Broncos scored in double-figures Friday night.
Santa Clara used their hot outside shooting to overcome a slow start and build a 56-38 halftime lead at the break. Once the Broncos got things rolling and found their range, they began to press the Seawolves, smothering them into 26 turnovers on the night. Kasey Monteith also established her presence underneath, leading all players with eight rebounds on the night.
"I thought our transition game was definitely effective tonight, we did a good job of pushing the ball and sharing it on offense," Head coach Michelle Bento-Jackson said. "Overall it was a good test for us, obviously it shows us what things we need to work on. A lot of people gave some good minutes tonight and contributed."
Some of those quality minutes came from a few new faces wearing the Santa Clara red and white. Freshman Kimee Goeggel shot five-of-six from the floor for 10 points while Claire Goins and Elizabeth Doran dropped in a few buckets in their debut.
"Our freshmen came in and gave us good minutes and our returners showed good progress from last year," Bento continued. "Again, that's going to be one of our strengths, that we have the depth and that we can go to a lot of different people, and I thought a lot of different people stepped up tonight."
Santa Clara will continue to rely on its depth this season as they continue to prepare to defend their 2004-05 WCC Tournament title and return to the NCAA Tournament. The Broncos officially open up the 2005-06 campaign Nov. 18 in Athens, Georgia as they take on the Georgia Bulldogs at 4 p.m. Pacific time.
