LAS VEGAS – Santa Clara women's basketball won a physical game over San Diego 86-79 in the second round of the West Coast Conference Tournament on Friday but suffered a huge loss in the process.
Lindsey VanAllen was injured on a hard foul with 2:56 left in the first half. Kendall Bird committed the foul as VanAllen was attempting a layup and hit her across the face. VanAllen landed and injured her wrist. After review Bird was ejected for the foul. VanAllen finished the day with 12 points in 15 minutes.
Fouls played a huge part in the game as there were a combined 60. It led to a lot of time at the free throw line with the No. 7 Broncos (16-14) going 36-for-45 and getting fouled 31 times while the No. 6 Toreros (16-14) were fouled 29 times and were 31-of-43 from the charity stripe.
Several other players stepped up in VanAllen's absence and Santa Clara ended up with five players in double-figures. Ashley Hiraki set a career-high with 22 points and went 13-of-17 from the free throw line. Merle Wiehl had her second consecutive double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Lana Hollingsworth scored 13 and Anna Johnson added 12 on 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
Santa Clara was on top by 13 with four minutes to go but San Diego wouldn't go away. The Toreros scored nine in a row to get within 77-73 at the 1:42 mark and would be as close as 80-78 with 49 seconds to go after Erica Martinsen made four free throws in a row. It wasn't enough as the Broncos would hit their free throws down the stretch.
Martinsen finished the day with 16 points despite going 2-of-11 from the floor thanks to 12-of-17 from the free throw line. Sydney Hunter led the way for San Diego with 20 points and added seven rebounds with Laura Erikstrup scoring 12.
After VanAllen went down, Santa Clara scored six in a row to turn a deficit into a lead but San Diego came right back with the next six to retake the lead. Santa Clara answered with a 6-0 run over the final 41 seconds of the half to take a lead into the locker room.
The lead for Santa Clara would stretch to as many as seven in the third quarter after an 8-0 run was capped by Hollingsworth's three-point play to make it a 54-47 game.
NOTES
- Santa Clara is now 40-43 all-time against San Diego.
- Lindsey VanAllen is now at 1,340 career points, good for seventh all-time at Santa Clara. Next is Chandice Cronk (2004-08) with 1,346.
- The Broncos were without Lexie Pritchard who was injured at Long Beach State. Her return is uncertain. Ashlee Maldonado is also out and will miss the entire season.
INTERVIEW
#Broncos head coach Bill Carr explains how his team upset sixth-seed USD in the second round of the @WCChoops tournament despite losing top scorer @lindseyvanallen to an injury in the first half.#StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/cYiDsgi65N
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) March 5, 2022
#Broncos senior @wiehl_merle fresh off her second straight double-double discusses the @SCUBroncos second round upset of @USDwbb #StampedeTogether #WCChoops pic.twitter.com/kMlkarD2qC
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) March 5, 2022
#Broncos senior @LHollingsw0rth says they won this one for @lindseyvanallen and they're moving onto round three!#StampedeTogether #WCChoops pic.twitter.com/Bu5Eo7s54O
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) March 5, 2022
NEXT UP
Santa Clara faces third-seeded San Francisco tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.
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