LAS VEGAS – Santa Clara women's basketball hung around with top-seeded No. 18 Gonzaga but came up a little short in a 72-62 defeat in the semifinals of the University Credit Union West Coast Conference Tournament.
Every time the Broncos (14-11) would start to creep closer, the Bulldogs (22-3) would stretch their lead with a run and keep Santa Clara at bay.
Back-to-back buckets by Lindsey VanAllen and Ashlyn Herlihy midway through the fourth quarter got the deficit down to six and after a pair of Gonzaga free throws, VanAllen's jumper made the score 63-57 with 3:51 remaining.
The Zags had a response and followed with a 7-0 run that stretched their lead back out to 70-57 with just over a minute remaining, which was too much to overcome.
"We had really good fight today," Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said. "We didn't get off to a great start but didn't let that stop us. We kept battling and came out of halftime feeling pretty good. They capitalized on our mistakes more than we did on theirs and we didn't get out in transition like we had been. That was the difference today."
Santa Clara's offense was led by the trio of VanAllen, Herlihy, and Merle Wiehl. VanAllen led all scorers with 17 points and was 7-of-14 from the field. Herlihy scored 16 on 6-of-7 shooting and 3-of-4 from downtown while adding a team-high six rebounds. Wiehl also scored 16 while connecting on four 3-pointers and grabbing five rebounds.
"You expect that from your seniors and your experienced players who have been through that," Carr said. "This was the first time in the semis with this group and they came out and gave it everything they had. I'm really proud of the whole group. They played with a lot of passion and energy and fight."
On the other side, Gonzaga had a balanced attack with four in double figures. Jill Townsend's 14 led the way, as did her 10 boards, as she finished with a double-double. Cierra Walker scored 13 with Jenn Wirth adding 12 and Kayleigh Truong scoring 10.
After both teams had some trouble from the field in the first half, they stepped it up over the final 20 minutes. The Broncos shot 33.3-percent in the opening two quarters and 55.2-percent in the final two to finish at 44.6-percent on the day. The Bulldogs were at 35.5-percent in the first half and 61.5-percent in the second to end at 47.4-percent.
The Bronco defense hounded Gonzaga all day, forcing 21 Bulldog turnovers, tied for the most this season by the Zags. Santa Clara turned those miscues into 15 points, but Gonzaga was able to score 13 points off of 17 Broncos turnovers.
After Gonzaga stretched its lead out to 13 with a 12-0 run in the second quarter, Santa Clara came back with the final six points of the first half and scored the first four of the second for a 10-0 run that had the Broncos within 29-26.
Walker tried to put Santa Clara away with back-to-back 3-pointers on the next two Gonzaga possessions but each time Wiehl had an answer.
It wasn't until a 15-5 run to end the third that Gonzaga got some breathing room in the second half.
NOTES
- Santa Clara is now 29-44 all-time against Gonzaga.
- The Broncos will finish with a winning record overall and in conference play for the first time since 2015-16 when they made the WNIT. That season they went 23-9 and 13-5 in WCC play.
- Ashlyn Herlihy remains 12th all-time at Santa Clara with 1,163 career points.
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