SANTA CLARA, Calif. – In its first road conference game of the season, Santa Clara women's basketball fell to Pepperdine by a final of 100-93 in double overtime. The loss puts the Broncos at 5-8 overall and 1-1 in WCC action while the Waves are now 5-9 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
Santa Clara returns to the floor Sat., Jan. 4 at 2 p.m. at LMU.
"We gave ourselves a chance even though we could have gone down in regulation but fought back," said Santa Clara head coach Jennifer Mountain. "We did not get stops with Richardson in the second half and allowed her to get to the rim. We had plenty of opportunities, we just didn't come through tonight. Both Ruta and Jo played great but I think they got fatigued a little and we need other players to make plays for us."
Santa Clara shot 45.9% (34-74) from the field and 31.8% (7-22) from three. The Broncos had 56 rebounds, 19 assists, 24 turnovers, six blocks and four steals. Ruta Zurauskyte and Jo Paine led the offense with 28 points each. Zurauskyte added a career-high 18 rebounds while Paine had 14 boards. Marie Bertholdt added 10 rebounds and while Katie Hawkins dished out six assists.
Pepperdine shot 42.2% (35-83) from the field and 40.0% (8-20) from three. The Waves had 46 rebounds, 14 assists, nine turnovers, and 14 steals. Bria Richardson led the offense with 44 points on 14-24 shooting and 13-16 from the free throw line. Allie Green scored 24 points while Keitra Wallace added 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Broncos started the game on a 13-0 run over the first 6:39. Raquel Avila made a nice move in the lane to start the scoring and Paine got an easy layup off an offensive rebound on her own missed three.
Santa Clara had a four-point possession after Paine was fouled on a drive to the lane but missed the free throw and Santa Clara grabbed the board. After two more offensive rebounds, Zurauskyte made a layup to finish the possession.
Pepperdine started the game 0-9 from the field with three turnovers. The Waves finally got on the board at 13:21 with a free throw from Richardson. Their first field goal came at 12:31 on a layup by Richardson after a steal. After another steal by Richardson, she failed to complete a three-point play to make the score 15-5.
The Waves got the deficit to single digits on a 6-0 run over a minute and forced a Bronco timeout. Kelsey Brockway made a nice jumper over Zurauskyte in the middle of the run. The run ended on a layup inside by Zurauskyte off an offensive rebound.
The Santa Clara lead dwindled all the way to three points near the seven-minute mark when Ea Shoushtari converted both ends of a one-and-one. After a jumper by Nici Gilday, Green hit a three to make the score 22-20.
After multiple scoreless possessions by both teams, Wallace hit a layup to tie the game for the first time since the start of the night. Hawkins put Santa Clara back on top on the next possession with her first three of the year. The Broncos had been 2-12 from the field before the triple.
Pepperdine finally took the lead at 3:22 after scoring five consecutive points. Green hit a three and Richardson made a tough layup to give the Waves the 27-25 lead. Bertholdt tied the game with a pair from the charity stripe but six straight points by the Waves put the score at 33-29 with 1:19 remaining.
Brooke Gallaway got Santa Clara back on top with her first three of the season with 33 seconds left in the half. Paine grabbed a rebound with three seconds left on the clock and attempted a three-quarters court buzzer beater and was fouled on the attempt. She hit two of three to put Santa Clara on an 8-0 run over the final 1:05 of the half to send the teams to the locker room with the score 37-33.
Santa Clara shot 45.2% (14-31) from the field and 22.2% (2-9) from three in the first half. The Broncos had 28 rebounds, eight assists, 11 turnovers, three blocks, and three steals. Zurauskyte led the offense with a first half double-double. She scored 12 points with 10 boards on 6-10 shooting. Paine added 10 points and nine rebounds while Hawkins had three assists and Avila had three steals.
Pepperdine shot 36.4% (12-33) from the field and 33.3% (3-9) from three in the first half. The Waves had 14 rebounds, five assists, four turnovers, and seven steals. Richardson led the offense with 17 points on 7-12 shooting and three steals. Wallace and Green added six points each while Wallace grabbed four boards.
The Waves tied the game with a deep two from Shoushtari at 9:12 but Gilday made the score 58-56 Broncos with a jumper. Shoushtari continued her hot shooting with a three on the other end to put the Waves on top. The lead continued to change with a three-point play from Paine. After a jumper tied it, Gilday hit a three to make the score 64-61 with seven minutes remaining.
Pepperdine crept back in to the lead with two free throws by Richardson at 5:58 and got the lead to three at 67-64 but Paine hit two of three from the line after being knocked down on an attempt from deep. Gilday followed it up with another three to put Santa Clara back on top by two.
Richardson put the Waves on top by three with 1:21 left on a layup. Paine was called for a foul but Shoushtari was given a technical on the dead ball. Shoushtari hit one of two and Gilday knocked down two for Santa Clara. Bertholdt made a layup on the ensuing Bronco possession to tie the game at 76-76 with 25.9 left on the clock.
With 1.7 seconds left on the clock, Pepperdine missed a shot but Paine was called for a foul to send Shoushtari to the line. She missed both free throws and the game went to overtime with the score 76-76.
Richardson scored the first nine points of overtime for Pepperdine. Gilday hit a jumper in the lane to make the score 85-82 with two and a half minutes left. After a defensive stop, Hawkins went to the line for a one-and-one and made one to make it a two-point game.
Gilday tied the score with a minute remaining on a layup in the lane. Pepperdine called a full timeout to set up its offense on the next possession. The Broncos came up with a huge stop and took their final timeout on their next possession. Paine missed a three but a rebound gave Santa Clara the last shot of the period. The Broncos came up empty and the game went to a second overtime.
Bertholdt grabbed an offensive board off a missed free throw by Leo and went back up for a bucket and the foul. Her free throw rattled out to keep Santa Clara on top 87-85.
Pepperdine scored the next six points to take a four-point lead with 1:47 on the clock. Zurauskyte cut the lead to 91-88 with a free throw but a pair from the line on the other end made it a five-point game. Richardson scored in the lane to make it a seven-point game. It was Richardson's 40th point of the game.
Santa Clara committed a couple costly turnovers and the Waves were able to hit free throws to close out the win.
Game Notes: Attendance was 346 … With her rebound at 19:33 in the second half, Jo Paine completed her first career double-double. … The double-doubles by Ruta Zurauskyte and Jo Paine were the third and fourth of the year for Santa Clara. Both were from Vanessa Leo in back-to-back games on Nov. 17 and Nov. 20 vs. UC Riverside and San Francisco State. Leo had 16 points and 14 rebounds and 12 points and 11 rebounds in the two games. … It was the third straight 20-point game for Ruta Zurauskyte. … Ruta Zurauskyte set her career-high with 18 rebounds. … Last season Pepperdine scored 36 points as a team in a 38-36 loss to Santa Clara in Malibu. Bria Richardson scored 44 points on her own this game. … This was the most points scored by Santa Clara since it also scored 96 in a 96-76 win at Sacramento State on Dec. 22, 2011. … This was the most points given up by Santa Clara since a 100-71 loss vs. Kansas State Nov. 26, 2005.
