RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Santa Clara women's basketball took care of UC Riverside 54-48 in a defense-oriented game Wednesday night.
Both teams posted nearly identical shooting percentages. The Broncos (4-2), who have won three in a row, shot 36.7-percent from the field and the Roadrunners (1-2) shot 35.2-percent. From beyond the arc Santa Clara was at 20.0-percent with and Riverside was 18.2-percent. From the charity stripe, the Broncos shot 76.2-percent and the Roadrunners shot 75.0-percent.
"A win is a win," said Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr. "They're not all going to be beautiful and look great but we learned a little bit about ourselves tonight. We saw that we could get into a slugfest and make enough plays to win, get enough stops to win. It was a good test and a good win."
The difference in the game proved to be a 16-6 advantage in free throws made for Santa Clara. Lindsey VanAllen tied a career high with nine free throws made and led all scorers with 20 points, 17 coming in the second half.
After Keilanei Cooper knocked down a 3-pointer with 6:35 left in the fourth quarter to tie the game, both teams went cold but Santa Clara was able to go on a 6-0 run over three and a half minutes to retake the lead at 47-41.
After a triple for the Roadrunners from Jordan Webster made it a one possession game with under two minutes to go, VanAllen came through with a layup to put the Broncos up 49-44.
She would go on to hit four free throws in as many chances in the final 30 seconds to seal the win.
VanAllen also added nine rebounds, a team high and one off her career high, and three steals.
"Lindsey did a really good job of getting aggressive in the second half," Carr said. "She let the game come to her and found her spots. She was a great sparkplug."
Lexie Pritchard, who led the team in the first half with six points, scored nine on the day with Ashlyn Herlihy adding six points and five rebounds.
UC Riverside's offense was led by Cooper and Georgia Ohiaeri who both scored 11. Cooper was just 5-of-16 from the floor but Ohiaeri was 4-for-7. Daphne Gnago scored nine and Jada Holland pulled down a team best six rebounds with five points.
The Roadrunners biggest lead of the game came early in the first after a 6-0 run saw them take a 12-6 lead midway through the first. The Broncos responded with the next seven. The teams would exchange leads with Riverside's last advantage being 16-15 with 6:30 to go in the first half.
NOTES
- Santa Clara is now 3-1 all-time against UC Riverside.
- The Broncos had a 30-18 advantage in points in the paint and a 12-5 edge in second chance points.
- Santa Clara also won the rebounding battle 36-31.
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