SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The momentum from Thursday's big win over No. 17/18-ranked Gonzaga was still palpable Saturday.
Playing in front of its largest home crowd in three years, the Santa Clara University women's basketball team kept things rolling into Saturday's first quarter, jumping out to a seven-point lead.
But the West Coast Conference's best-shooting team stayed steady. First-place Portland went on a 14-0 run that began at the end of the first quarter and stretched into the second, giving it the lead for good en route to an 81-68 WCC win over Santa Clara at Leavey Center.
Check out head @coachbillcarr's postgame interview following this afternoon's game versus first-place Portland ��#StampedeTogether | #SCUBroncos pic.twitter.com/hN0UHEjQmn
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) February 5, 2023
Portland (18-6, 12-1 WCC) started the game shooting 40% – below its conference-leading average of 46.6% – and trailed by seven, 22-15 in the first quarter. That deficit was due in part to Santa Clara (14-11, 5-7 WCC) starting the game on fire, making six of its first eight shots (75%), with points from all five starters.
The Pilots then steadied the ship. Two-time defending WCC Player of the Week Alex Fowler made the first and last buckets of what would be a 14-0 go-ahead-for-good run. Fowler finished with a game-high 26 points thanks to 12 made field goals. She started the game by missing each of her first two layup attempts.
Portland went 6 for 7 as a team from the floor during a 3 1/2 minute stretch at the end of the first and start of the second quarters to completely flip the script – from a seven-point, 22-15 Santa Clara lead, to a seven-point, 29-22 Portland advantage. The Broncos started the second period missing their first five shots. They were also outrebounded 6-0 during the Pilots' run. Portland won the game's rebounding battle, 28-23, including 23-5 on the defensive end.
A loud crowd of over 1,000 fans – including plenty of young members of the Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative – helped keep the Broncos in the game. It was Santa Clara's largest home crowd since Feb. 9, 2019, when it played in front of 1,216 fans against Pepperdine. Santa Clara also stayed in the game by forcing 12 Portland turnovers and scoring 19 points off of them. SCU took great care of the ball Saturday, committing only eight turnovers against 19 assists (2.4 team assists-to-turnovers ratio). The Broncos shot the ball well on Saturday, too. They were still shooting 50.0% as a team through three quarters and would finish at 49.2% – their fifth-best shooting performance of the year.
Tess Heal helped keep the Broncos in the game with her seventh 20-point performance of the season and first since scoring 23 at Portland on Jan. 5. She scored 22 points Saturday and matched a season-high with seven assists.
Check out head @coachbillcarr's postgame interview following this afternoon's game versus first-place Portland ��#StampedeTogether | #SCUBroncos pic.twitter.com/hN0UHEjQmn
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) February 5, 2023
Lara Edmanson scored 14 points on 7-for-8 shooting. Marya Hudgins chipped in 10 points with two rebounds, two assists and two steals. Ashley Hiraki narrowly missed a double-double with eight points and eight rebounds to go with two assists and two steals.
Portland shot 61.5% for the game, went a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line, and also made 6 of 11 3-point attempts (54.5%). Liana Kaitu'u gave the Pilots two 20-point performances with 21 off the bench. Eight of the nine Pilots who played Saturday scored at least three points each.
The Broncos next go on the road to Pacific and Saint Mary's on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Fans can find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.
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