Dec. 13, 2005
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - With finals completed and the holiday break upon it, the Santa Clara women's basketball team is hitting the road for a journey to the snow-covered Northwest for a pair of games. The Broncos open this trip Tuesday night with a 6 p.m. Pacific tip-off against the Montana Lady Griz in Missoula, Mont. before heading west to Cheney, Wash. for a 7:05 p.m. matchup against Eastern Washington.
Santa Clara (2-4) is looking to bounce back from last Saturday's down-to-the-final-minute 73-69 loss to the University of Hawai'i at the Leavey Center. Tracey Walker scored a career-high 16 points against the Rainbow Wahine, upping her scoring average to 9.9 points per game. Ashley Graham also scored 16 and hit on 4-of-5 three-point attempts to bring her three-point accuracy to 57.1% (20-for-35) on the season.
As a team, Santa Clara ranks among the nation's best in several offensive categories. The Broncos lead the NCAA with a 48.6% success rate from behind the arc, 10.3 three-pointers per game, are tied for second with 72 three-pointers made. They also rank in the nation's Top 20 in scoring (80.4 ppg-12th) and assists per game (18.1-17th). Among the WCC schools, the Broncos lead the conference in scoring, field goal percentage (47.0%), three-point shooting percentage, threes made, and assists (127).
Michelle Cozad continues to lead the WCC in scoring (19.0 ppg) and three-pointers made (23), while being second in the conference with 8.7 rebounds a game following a 14-rebound performance against Hawai'i.
Inside, the Broncos are paced by the duo of Ashley Gonnerman, averaging 8.9 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, and Kasey Monteith, whose 7.4 points and 4.9 rebounds a game provide balance with the outside game. Monteith's 55.3% field-goal percentage is also second in the conference.
SCU will face another 2005 NCAA Tournament team Tuesday in the University of Montana (4-2). Following a 58-57 victory over Long Beach State, the Lady Griz head into Tuesday's game led by the scoring of Katie Edwards (16.7 ppg) and Dana Conway (10.7 ppg) and the rebounding of Tamara Guardipee (6.8 rpg) and Jody McLeod (6.5 rpg).
Following Tuesday night's game, the Broncos will head to Cheney to face Eastern Washington in a 7:05 tip-off Thursday night. Live Stats will be available on www.santaclarabroncos.com for both games.
