SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Santa Clara women's basketball used a big run in the second half to pull away and beat UC Santa Barbara 73-51 Saturday evening on the road to make it two wins in two days at the Thunderdome.
The game was close until back-to-back 3-pointers by Ashlyn Herlihy and Lana Hollingsworth got the Broncos (3-2) on top late in the third quarter and started a 26-1 run that went until 4:53 in the fourth quarter.
During the run, Hollingsworth added two more triples and scored all 11 of her points while Herlihy added another form downtown as well. Merle Wiehl had a stretch of five in a row and contributed seven points during the nearly eight-minute stretch. The run gave Santa Clara a 64-43 lead.
"I don't think it was anything magical," Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said. "I thought we were getting decent looks throughout the game and just weren't making them. We had a little spark and made one bucket, then two, and the basket started to look a little bigger. That started to put some more pressure on them. I'm proud of the team for sticking with it."
Wiehl finished with a game high 20 points of 8-of-15 shooting and pulled down a team best eight boards, one off her career high. Herlihy added 12 and was 4-of-6 from the floor with seven rebounds while Lexie Pritchard (11) and Ashley Hiraki (10) gave Santa Clara five players in double figures.
"That's the way we're built," Carr said of the balanced attack. "We don't have to rely on one person and tonight that was clear. Lana came off the bench and gave us a spark. Merle had a really good game. Everyone played well. That's a really good sign."
The Broncos used their size and depth to their advantage, outscoring UC Santa Barbara 36-8 in the paint and 43-17 off the bench. They also won the rebounding battle 43-33 and scored 34 points off of 30 Gaucho turnovers.
"For the most part we were in the right position defensively tonight and that caused a problem for them," Carr said. "It wasn't anything crazy or new. Maybe we're just getting better at what we do. It goes back to things not going great early but the team sticking with it and coming out on top."
UCSB (0-4) scored eight in a row, behind 3-pointers from Alyssa Marin and Danae Miller and a jumper from Lauren Lee, to get up 24-15 early in the second quarter, their biggest lead of the game.
Santa Clara responded with the next 11 to take a 26-24 lead with 2:52 left in the opening half. Five different Bronco scored during the run, with Pritchard's 3-pointer putting them on top.
The Gauchos, however, came right back and closed the first half on a 6-0 run of their own, featuring five points from Doris Jones and took a 30-26 lead into halftime.
Jones was the lone UCSB player in double figures with 14 and added 12 rebounds for the double-double. Marin added eight points but was just 1-of-6 from the field with Miller and Lee each adding six.
NOTES
- Santa Clara is now 8-5 all-time against UC Santa Barbara.
- The Broncos used the same starting lineup for the second game in a row (Pritchard, Maldonado, VanAllen, Herlihy, Stafford).
UP NEXT
The Broncos travel to UC Riverside for a 2 p.m. game Wednesday.
Connect with the Broncos on Social Media
Athletics: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Snapchat
Women's Basketball: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
