LOS ANGELES – Santa Clara women's basketball continued its terrific play on the road with a 79-65 win at LMU Tuesday afternoon.
The Broncos (13-8, 9-6 WCC) started slow but got things going with a monster second quarter and never looked back while getting big games from Merle Wiehl and Lindsey VanAllen.
Things began to heat up late in the first quarter when Santa Clara began a 13-0 run. Wiehl started things with a 3-pointer and a layup from Ashlee Maldonado at the 7:58 mark of the second quarter put the Broncos on top 22-13.
Santa Clara wasn't done in the first half and a 10-0 run midway through the second quarter ballooned the Broncos lead to 20. Wiehl scored five points during the run with Lana Hollingsworth's bucket giving Santa Clara a 40-20 lead with 2:49 left in the opening period.
"We got some stops and got out in transitions, which got us going," Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said. "The best thing about that stretch was that the ball was really moving and we got some really good looks. We also guarded really well on the other end."
Wiehl finished with a team high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. In the first half, the senior scored 17 on 7-of-8 shooting including 3-of-4 from downtown.
"Merle had a really good day," Carr said. "She got to the rim. She made some midrange shots. She made some 3-pointers. She even had a couple of big buckets late that helped us get momentum. It was a very good offensive game."
VanAllen, the team's leading scorer, added 17 points with Maldonado and Ashlyn Herlihy both chipping in 10. Maldonado guided the offense with six assists and Herlihy pulled down six boards.
Defensively the Broncos held the Lions (5-13, 4-9 WCC) to just 27.3-percent shooting in the first half and 1-fo-12 from downtown. LMU finished the game at 38.3-percent shooting but couldn't find its range and went 4-of-23 from distance.
Offensively, Santa Clara had a big day from beyond the arc, connecting 11 times on 26 tries.
Despite a 42-24 deficit at half, the Lions made things interesting in the third quarter. They went on a 16-3 run over the final seven minutes of the quarter, led by 10 from Meghan Mandel, to get within 53-46.
"Teams in the conference are going to make a run at you, much like we did Saturday at Gonzaga," Carr said. "Sooner or later you have to bow your back and push back. That's what we did in the fourth quarter."
Mandel led all scorers with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting and added 11 rebounds for the double-double.
After Santa Clara stretched the lead back out to 61-46, LMU once again got within single digits. Mandel made a layup and Chelsey Gipson hit back-to-back triples, her only two field goals of the day despite scoring 12, in transition to get the Lions within 69-60 with 2:37 remaining.
The Broncos bowed their backs and converted down the stretch from the charity stripe, hitting all eight of their attempts, including four from VanAllen, to seal the victory.
For the game, Santa Clara was a perfect 20-of-20 from the charity stripe, setting a program record for the most free throws made without a miss. The previous mark was 16 vs. Utah on December 18, 1979.
NOTES
- Santa Clara is now 49-29 all-time against LMU.
- The Broncos 13-8 record through 21 games is the best since the 2015-16 team went 16-5 over the first 21 games. That team would start the season 19-5 and finished with 23 wins and a trip to the WNIT.
- Santa Clara is now 7-2 on the road in West Coast Conference play this year, matching the 2015-16 team.
- Ashlyn Herlihy remains 14th all-time at Santa Clara with 1,123 career points.
UP NEXT
The Broncos conclude their four-game road trip Saturday at 2 p.m. at San Francisco.
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