SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Jill Barta's double-double was too much for Santa Clara women's basketball Saturday afternoon as the Broncos fell to Gonzaga 63-51 in the conference home opener.
Barta, the third-leading scorer in the conference, led all players with 21 points and added 11 rebounds while going 8-for-9 from the free throw line.
The Bulldogs (9-4, 2-0 WCC) led by double-digits for almost the entire second half and pulled away for good over the final minute of the third quarter and first three minutes of the fourth with 13 in a row to build a game-high lead of 56-34.
Earlier in the third, the Zags looked like they were going to put the game away with a 9-0 run that gave them a 41-21 lead with 6:16 to go, but Santa Clara (4-9, 0-2 WCC) got five points, including a 3-pointer, from Morgan McGwire en route to 11 in a row over two and a half minutes to get within single-digits at 43-34.
McGwire finished with a team-high 14 points and added eight rebounds, Kyla Martin scored 12 and Charise Holloway added 10 and five boards in her first game as a Bronco in Leavey Center.
"I thought the seniors did a nice job today," Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said. "[Taylor] Berry had some big rebounds, Morgan [McGwire] missed a double-double by two rebounds, and Kyla [Martin] played a lot of minutes and did some really good things for us. Those three played like seniors tonight and Charise [Holloway] came in and gave us a really good energy which is what she brings to the team."
With Santa Clara down just 24-18 midway through the second quarter, both teams went cold from the field. Gonzaga ended the first half on a 6-0 run with all points coming from the line. The Zags didn't make a shot from the field for the final 5:56 of the first half with the Broncos not scoring for the final 5:35 and missing their last five field goal attempts.
NOTES
- Santa Clara is now 29-37 all-time against Gonzaga.
- Taylor Berry made her 87th consecutive start.
- Ashlyn Herlihy got the start for the second game in a row.
- Santa Clara had 14 assists on 19 made baskets with five players picking up multiple assists.
- The Bulldogs finished the day 13-for-15 from the charity stripe while the Broncos went just 7-for-15.
HIGHLIGHTS
HIGHLIGHTS | Take a look at the #SCUBroncos in action during today's @DICKS @WCCSports home opener against Gonzaga! FULL HIGHLIGHTS ▶️ https://t.co/0pnO8EMLOm #StampedeTogether #WCCHoops pic.twitter.com/YzMMNd4fgy
— Santa Clara WBB (@Santaclarawbb) December 31, 2017
QUOTABLE
"When you play good teams, and every team in our league is good, you can't make little mistakes that will cost you. Unfortunately, we made some mistakes that led to runouts and you can't just give good teams points. For the most part, in the half-court, I thought we did fine. We have to sure up the little mental mistakes, the things that we can control, but I like our team. We just have to get better moving forward."
Head coach Bill Carr
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Santa Clara hosts Loyola Marymount at 7 p.m. Thursday.
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