PROVO, Utah — The first half of the West Coast Conference women's basketball season is over...
And the Santa Clara University women's basketball team is just getting started.
The Broncos came from behind on the road to beat a WCC top-five team for the second time in three days Saturday, extending their win streak to three and earning their first-ever win in Provo, beating host BYU, 69-59, at the Marriott Center.
Santa Clara (13-9, 4-5 WCC) had never beat BYU (11-9, 6-3 WCC) in Provo coming into Saturday's matchup, going 0-12 there since 2006-07. It was the Broncos' third win over the Cougars in a series that dates to 1998-99. Saturday's 10-point triumph was Santa Clara's second-largest win over BYU, having beaten them by 12 in their first meeting, 76-64 on Dec. 5, 1998, in Santa Clara.
Like Thursday at San Diego, the Broncos trailed at halftime, this time by one point, 36-35. And just like Thursday, they quickly erased that deficit with a big run right out the gate in the second half. Santa Clara went on a decisive 13-0 run to start the third quarter, going up 48-36 and never trailing again. Reigning WCC Freshman of the Week Marya Hudgins hit two 3-pointers and a layup during the key run, and Ashley Hiraki also hit a trey that put the Broncos up by 10, 46-36.
Q3, 8:57 | #Broncos 40, @byuwbb 36
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) January 21, 2023
Marya Hudgins hits the corner 3️⃣ and Santa Clara goes up by 4️⃣!#StampedeTogether | #SCUBroncos pic.twitter.com/7Q10Ck9hl4
Santa Clara had three double-figure scorers. Lara Edmanson had a team-high 15 points to go with five rebounds and two assists. Hiraki scored 13 points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds. She also swiped three steals and had an assist. Tess Heal poured in 13 and tied a season-high with seven assists. Olivia Pollerd hit her first three 3-point attempts coming off the bench and finished with nine points, two rebounds and a block.
For a Santa Clara team that narrowly dropped two WCC games by one point at home, both on last-second shots, Saturday's task of continuing to build its recent momentum appeared daunting. The Broncos were facing a red-hot BYU team that had won seven in a row and had never lost to them on that floor.
But Santa Clara stopped the Cougars in their tracks with strong efforts on both sides of the ball. The Broncos held them to under 60 points on their home floor for the first time in more than a month, since then-No. 15 Utah also held BYU to 59 at the Marriott Center on Dec. 10. The SCU defense limited BYU to its lowest shooting percentage (38.9%) at home this season and third-lowest on the year.
The Cougars hit their first two 3-point attempts of the game and jumped out to an 8-0 lead, giving Santa Clara flashbacks of when Portland started 6 for 6 from deep (Jan. 5) and when Gonzaga started 5 for 5 (Jan. 7). But the perimeter defense stepped up to hold BYU to only 5 for 23 (21.7%) from 3-point range the rest of the way.
On the other side, the Broncos' 3-point shooting was some of their best all season. Santa Clara hit 10 3-pointers Saturday, including six in the first quarter alone, and led 20-16 after the first quarter. It was the fifth time this season they've hit at least 10 treys. BYU answered with four long balls of its own in the second quarter to hold a one-point, 36-35 lead at halftime, but it'd only hit one more after that, going 1 for 10 in the second half.
Q2, 2:52 | #Broncos 33, @byuwbb 33
— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) January 21, 2023
Love that Ashlee-to-Ashley connection! ��
This one ties the game at 3️⃣3️⃣-all!#StampedeTogether | #SCUBroncos pic.twitter.com/n6YALpz7pa
Nani Falatea led all players with 20 points for BYU. Lauren Gustin tallied her 19th double-double of the season with 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Kaylee Smiler added 13 points for the Cougars.
Santa Clara begins the WCC's second half on Saturday with a short trip up the peninsula to face San Francisco. Fans can find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.
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