SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Santa Clara University women's basketball team hosts the top-two teams in the West Coast Conference when they return home this week. First-place No. 17/18 Gonzaga visits Thursday, and second-place Portland comes to Leavey Center on Saturday.

THE MATCHUPS

Santa Clara (13-10, 4-6 WCC) vs. #17/18 Gonzaga (21-2, 11-0 WCC)
Santa Clara (13-10, 4-6 WCC) vs. Portland (16-6, 10-1 WCC) 

GAME INFO

When: Thursday, Feb. 2 • 6 p.m.
Where: Leavey Center (Santa Clara, Calif.)
Video: WCC Network
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
Game Notes: Santa Clara | #17/18 Gonzaga

When: Saturday, Feb. 4 • 2 p.m.
Where: Leavey Center (Santa Clara, Calif.)
Video: WCC Network
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
Game Notes: Santa Clara | Portland

SERIES HISTORY

Santa Clara is 29-48 all-time against Gonzaga, including 17-19 in Leavey Center. The last meeting was a 78-61 Gonzaga win in Spokane, Wash., on Jan. 7, 2023.
Santa Clara is 49-33 all-time against Portland, including 25-13 in Leavey Center. The last meeting was an 81-71 Portland win in Portland, Ore., on Jan. 5, 2023.

LAST TIME OUT

The 111th meeting between familiar Bay Area foes Santa Clara and San Francisco Saturday would be decided by single digits for the 10th time in their last 12 meetings, as San Francisco used a key 12-3 run midway through the fourth quarter to break a tie and sweep the regular season series with a 74-66 win at War Memorial at Sobrato Center.

The Broncos twice hit game-tying 3-pointers in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, first from Olivia Pollerd and again from Tess Heal to make it 58-58. But over the next 2 1/2 minutes, they failed to capitalize on USF's turnovers and cold shooting. The Dons went 0 for 3 from the floor, committed a turnover and even missed a free throw in the two minutes following Heal's game-tying trey at the 8:04 mark. But Santa Clara went 1 for 3 itself and committed four turnovers while surrendering three offensive rebounds over the next 4 1/2 minutes, allowing USF to find its stroke and pull away.

NOTES

• Tess Heal collected her eighth WCC Freshman of the Week award Monday for the week of Jan. 23-29 – her third in the last four weeks – after another solid all-around performance on the road Saturday at rival San Francisco.
  
  Heal scored 16 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished three assists while putting up a 40/50/90 shooting performance in Santa Clara's lone game of the week. The weekly honor marks Santa Clara's fourth consecutive WCC Freshman of the Week award (Marya Hudgins earned the award on Jan. 16) and ninth in the 12 times it's been awarded so far. Her 16 points were only one shy of the game high. She hit two 3-pointers, including a game-tying trey two minutes into the fourth quarter.

• Santa Clara had never beat BYU in Provo entering last 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.

• So far this season, as long as Santa Clara keeps its opponent under 70 points, it wins. The Broncos are 12-0 in 2022-23 when allowing 69 or less points. And they've outscored their opponents by an average of 22.3 points in those 12 wins.

• Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr is six wins away from his 300th career victory and eight wins from his 100th as the head coach of the Santa Clara women's program. Carr spent 11 years from 1999-2016 as the head coach of three different NAIA and NCAA Division II men's basketball programs, amassing 202 wins along the way. He's won 92 games at Santa Clara, surpassing his highest total at any of his men's coaching stops (84 at Spring Hill College, 1999-2002).

  Carr, the eighth head coach in program history, is the fourth-winningest head coach of all-time for Broncos women's basketball. He trails No. 3 Ken Thompson, who coached SCU from 1978-88 and collected 112 victories.

• Another strong string of performances before Christmas brought more accolades for Santa Clara freshman guard Tess Heal, as she was named both the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week, and earned her fifth WCC Freshman of the Week award for the week of Dec. 12-19.

  Heal averaged 17.3 points, 4.7 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in three games from Dec. 12-19 (the USBWA award was based on Heal's two games from Dec. 12-18) while shooting 55.6% to help lead Santa Clara to a 2-1 week and a 1-1 start in WCC play. Heal was the Broncos' leading scorer in all three games during the week and was the game-high scorer twice.

• Santa Clara entered this season having gone 1-12 in its last 13 non-conference games played outside of California (not including the WCC Tournament), dating to Dec. 18, 2014. But they went 3-0 in 2022-23, going unbeaten at the Las Vegas Holiday Classic with wins over South Dakota (75-50) and Washington (71-58), then beating Nevada on Dec. 11, 66-56.

• Heal has played this season as one of the best freshmen not only in the WCC, not only on the West Coast – but as one of the best in the nation. Her 16.0 points per game is ranked sixth among all freshmen in the country through Sunday. No freshman in any of the West Region's Division I conferences (WCC, Pac-12, Mountain West, Big West, Big Sky, WAC) is scoring higher than her. Heal's 4.1 assists per game are ranked seventh in the country among freshmen.

• The Broncos were a perfect 12-for-12 from the free-throw line on Jan. 12 against Saint Mary's. It's only the 13th time in program history they've been a perfect 100% from the free-throw line (minimum five attempts). It's only the fifth time in program history they've made at least 10 free throws without missing. At 12 for 12, it's the fourth-most free throws they've ever made on a perfect night, and the most since they went a school-record perfect 20-for-20 against LMU on Feb. 16, 2021.

• The Broncos made waves on Nov. 30 even in defeat with a spectacular effort against the No. 2 team in the country, as they drove up El Camino Real to revive a series versus 2021 national champion Stanford that hadn't been played for seven years. The Cardinal won, 82-69, but Santa Clara scored the second-most points allowed by the Cardinal this season, hit the most 3-pointers Stanford has allowed (13) and held the No. 2 team in the country to its worst 3-point shooting percentage (27.3%) of the year. The 13-point margin of victory was Stanford's smallest in nine wins, more than 10 points smaller than the next smallest victory margin (24).

• Journeyperson Ayzhiana Basallo enters Saturday's game only three points away from 1,000 for her career. She has six double-digit scoring games already and is the team's second-leading scorer in her first year with the Broncos. The San Francisco native has played at four different colleges during her six-year career, including Cal Poly (2017-18), San Jose State (2019-21), Arizona State (2021-22) and Santa Clara (Present).

  Her biggest season came in 2019-20 as a sophomore at SJSU. She was named the Mountain West Newcomer of the Year and made the Mountain West all-conference team after scoring an impressive 536 points in 29 games. Basallo is a 40.8% career shooter from 3-point range and a 90.2% career free-throw shooter

• Tess Heal played with the Australia U18 Women's National Team in India during early September at the FIBA U18 Women's Asian Championship. She helped the Gems not only qualify for the 2023 FIBA U19 Women's World Cup, but was also part of the team's first-ever championship at the event, as the Gems went undefeated to hoist the trophy 

• Santa Clara defeated Washington, 71-58, on Nov. 26 to conclude the Las Vegas Holiday Classic with a perfect 2-0 record. It was the Broncos' first win over the Huskies in 21 years almost to the day and by almost the exact same score. The Broncos last beat UW on Nov. 24, 2001, in Seattle, 71-56. It was Santa Clara's first win over a Pac-12 Conference member since Nov. 23, 2015, when it beat Stanford on the road, 61-58.

• The Broncos also beat 2022 Sweet 16 team South Dakota on the trip. Their unblemished trip to Las Vegas marked the first time they went unbeaten in a non-conference tournament in seven years. They last went 2-0 at Cal Poly's 2015 ShareSLO Holiday Tournament in San Luis Obispo on Nov. 27-28, 2015.

• Santa Clara posted its second consecutive winning season in 2021-22 – the first time the Broncos had logged consecutive winning campaigns in 16 years. The Broncos have won at least 12 games in five of head coach Bill Carr's six years at the helm. They'll be looking to log their third straight winning season in 2022-23 for the first time in 20 years – since the program wrapped up a run of 13 straight winning years in 2002-03.

  The Broncos' regular season success has also shown through in the postseason the last two years. Santa Clara reached the WCC Tournament quarterfinals in 2022 with back-to-back wins in the first and second rounds. That came a year after they reached the semifinals in 2021.

• Santa Clara's 2022-23 roster features eight players who haven't played for the Broncos in at least a year – that includes six newcomers who have never donned an SCU jersey, and returners Ashlee Maldonado and Lexie Pritchard, who are both returning from season-long injuries.

• Santa Clara's six newcomers include three freshmen and three transfers. The trio of transfers feature redshirt senior guard Azhiana Basallo, a San Francisco native who comes to the South Bay from Arizona State via San Jose State and Cal Poly, sophomore forward Olivia Pollerd from Washington of the Pac-12 Conference, and junior guard Jayde Cadee out of UC Irvine. The rookies include 6-foot, 3-inch forward Georgia Grigiripoulou from Athens, Greece, 5-10 guard Tess Heal out of Melbourne, Australia, and 6-0 guard Marya Hudgins from Aurora, Colo.

TICKET INFORMATION

Individual game and season tickets are on sale now for Bronco Basketball! Click here to purchase your tickets online, call the Broncos ticket office (408-554-4660) or email them at broncostickets@scu.edu.

Connect with the Broncos on Social Media

Athletics: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Women's Basketball: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram