CORVALLIS, Ore. – In a game of two halves, Santa Clara women's basketball overcame a 17-point deficit with a big second half comeback to win at Oregon State 83-70 on Thursday night. The Broncos (19-7, 9-4 WCC) struggled mightily in the first half shooting the ball while the Beavers (17-9, 9-4 WCC) were hot, but the tides turned at the start of the third quarter and Santa Clara rode the momentum to victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED:Â
- It was a rough start for Santa Clara and a hot one for Oregon State. The Broncos missed their first 11 shots of the game while the Beavers began 7-of-11 and got out on top 13-0. Santa Clara was able to play it even the rest of the period and was down 27-14 after one.
- The Broncos used a 9-0 run early in the second to get the deficit into single-digits at the 6:28 mark, but Oregon State responded with nine in a row of its own to stretch the lead back to 40-23. The Beavers made their last four shots of the half, finished at 55.6-percent, while Santa Clara finished 2-for-13 and shot just 23.8-percent in opening half. The Broncos found themselves down 48-32 at the break.
- Santa Clara turned things around in the third quarter, starting with the first 10 points of the second half, featuring a pair of 3-pointers from Ava Schmidt. After a pair of free throws ended the run, the Broncos came back with eight in a row to tie things on a triple from Kylee Fox. A jumper from Kate Schat with 3:25 on the clock gave Santa Clara it's first lead of the night and the teams went back-and-forth the rest of the the period with the scoring ending up at 59-all heading to the fourth.
- Oregon State tied things a minute into the fourth with an and-one before Schmidt went on a 6-0 run by herself to give Santa Clara the lead for good. The Beavers got within two at the 5:44 mark and a slow stretch for both teams made it a 71-68 game with 3:38 to go before back-to-back 3-pointers from Schmidt and Aniya Hooker at 2:51 created some distance at 77-68. The Broncos would close the game on a 6-0 run to make it a 13-point victory.
NOTABLE:
- Santa Clara shot 37.7-percent (29-of-77) from the floor and went 14-of-40 from beyond the arc. The Broncos hot 23.3-percent (10-of-43) and were 5-of-24 in the first half and 55.9-percent (19-of-34) and 9-of-16 in the second half.
- Ava Schmidt led all scorers with a career-high 25 point and added 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. She also tied a career-high with five 3-pointers and eight field goals made and set career marks with 19 field goal attempts and 12 tries from deep.
- Hooker also set career-highs with 16 points, eight rebounds, and four 3-pointers made. Ashley Hawkins scored eight o go with nine assists and five rebounds while Kylee Fox scored nine with nine boards. All nine Broncos to play made at least one field goal.
- Oregon State shot 37.5-percent (27-of-72) and went 5-of-19 from deep in the game. The Beavers were at 55.6-percent (20-of-36) and 4-of-8 in the first half and 19.4-percent (7-of-36) and 1-of-11 in the second half, when they scored just 22 points.
- Jenna Villa was 6-of-20 from the field and scored a team-high 15 points to go with 12 rebounds for the double-double. Kennedie Shuler scored 13 and just missed a double-double with nine assists while Lara Alonso scored 11 with six boards and Lizzy Williamson scored 10.
- Santa Clara won the battle of the boards 52-43, 33-28 on the defensive end and 15-10 on the offensive side.
POSTGAME COMMENTS:Â
HIGHLIGHTS:Â
NEXT UP
- The Broncos play at Portland Saturday at 5 p.m.
