SANTA CLARA, Calif. – A complete team effort, led by a couple of career days, gave Santa Clara women's basketball a 75-64 win over Saint Mary's Saturday afternoon in Leavey Center despite being without top scorer Lindsey VanAllen who was out with a knee issue.
The win gave the Broncos (11-7, 7-5 WCC) their first regular season sweep of the Gaels (5-14, 3-10 WCC) since 2014-15.
Both Lana Hollingsworth and Ashlee Maldonado scored career highs with 16 and 14 points respectively. Also in double figures for the Broncos were Ashlyn Herlihy with 13 and Merle Wiehl with 12. Lara Edmanson pulled down a career best 10 boards as well.
"We're built with depth," Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said. "When somebody's out, somebody's got to step up. Ashlee Maldonado and Lana Hollingsworth both stepped up today. Lara rebounded. Merle and Ashlyn were also in double figures so we still got great contributions out of them as well. A really good team effort."
As a team, Santa Clara shot 47.4-percent from the field while holding Saint Mary's to just 35.1-percent, including 11-for-34 from beyond the arc. The Broncos also won the battle of the boards 40-33.
"After Thursday's game, we talked about our rebounding," Carr said. "We're not the quickest group but we can certainly go rebound and when we do that it sparks our offense. I think we all know that. Today it was very helpful."
After the Gaels used a big third quarter to even the score, the Broncos responded with a 13-3 run over the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. Hollingsworth led the charge with six points and the Broncos got their lead up to double figures at 69-59.
"Our team just kept playing," Carr said of the hot start to the fourth quarter. "Good teams are going to make runs at you. This a good conference. We've been in this position before where teams have made runs back at us. It was good to see some toughness and team play. The ball kept moving and we got aggressive. We were into the bonus quickly in the fourth quarter and I thought that was huge."
Saint Mary's came out in the second half hot and scored the first seven points. Jade Kirisome scored the first five and Madeline Holland's layup made the score 44-40 with 7:37 left in the third quarter.
Holland finished the quarter with nine and her final bucket of the period evened the score at 56-all. She finished with a team high 16 on 6-of-10 shooting.
Ellie Croco scored 12 despite being just 3-of-13 from the floor and Jordyn Boesel scored and Taycee Wdin both scored 10 with Wedin adding seven rebounds.
Santa Clara took advantage of a field goal drought of 6:44 by Saint Mary's in the second quarter to build up a lead. The Broncos would go on a 21-6 run during the drought with Maldonado scoring nine. After the Gaels finally connected on a field goal, Maldonado closed the half with a 3-pointer to give the Broncos a 44-33 lead at the break.
A 10-2 run by Saint Mary's in the first gave the Gaels their first lead of the day. Boesel scored the final five with her 3-pointer at 3:24 making it 12-11.
Check out the @HerculesTires Strong Plays of the Game from Saturday's victory over Saint Mary's!#StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos #WCCHoops pic.twitter.com/twefWyjnYA
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) February 7, 2021
��️ Hear from head coach Bill Carr on today's victory over Saint Mary's!
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) February 7, 2021
Postgame interview presented by @ROATweets.#StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos #WCCHoops pic.twitter.com/K5pk7BMIn8
��️ Hear from Lana Hollingsworth on today's victory over Saint Mary's!
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) February 7, 2021
Postgame interview presented by @ROATweets.#StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos #WCCHoops pic.twitter.com/ExjyVUtHLM
NOTES
- Santa Clara is now 38-43 all-time against Saint Mary's.
- The Broncos three wins in a row over the Gaels is the most since a four-game winning streak from 2013-2015.
- Santa Clara outscored Saint Mary's 38-16 in the paint.
- Ashlyn Herlihy is now tied for 18th all-time at Santa Clara with 1,082 career points. She is tied with Morgan McGwire (2014-18).
- Lindsey VanAllen was out with a knee injury. She is expected back for the next game. It was the first game she hasn't started this season and the first she has missed in her career. She had appeared in the first 79 games.
UP NEXT
The Broncos head to Portland for a 5 p.m. matchup Thursday with the Pilots.
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