SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara women's basketball made some history in an 87-79 victory over Pacific Thursday night to tipoff the final weekend of the regular season. The Broncos (22-8, 12-5 WCC) jumped out to a lead just over a minute into the game and wouldn't trail again despite strong pushes from the Tigers (11-17, 6-11 WCC) in the second half.
HOW IT HAPPENED:Â
- Six straight points for Santa Clara in the early-going made it an 8-3 lead. The two teams went back-and-forth for most of the period with Pacific getting as close as 16-15 at the 2:42 mark, but the Broncos would extend the lead a bit and finish the first quarter on top 25-19.
- Back-to-back 3-pointers by Delainey Miller and Kylee Fox started the second and got the lead out to 12 a minute into period. A 7-0 run for the Tigers over two minutes midway through the quarter got them within36-36 before Santa Clara responded with two buckets to get back in front by double-figures. At the half, the Broncos held on to a 48-36 lead.
- Pacific roared out of the halftime break, scoring the first 10 points, the first even by Daria Nestorov, to cut the deficit to just two. Later in the quarter, Santa Clara scored six in a row of its own to create a bit of breathing room at 56-48 and would lead at the end of the period 60-52.
- The Broncos got back out in front by 13 four minutes in the fourth before Sophia Mindermann scored five in a row to make it 69-61. Following a 3-pointer from Ashley Hawkins, Pacific scored seven in a row and got back within 72-68 with 3:05 remaining. Fox's layup at 1:19 made it a six-point game and the Broncos would convert at the free throw line down the stretch to ice the victory.
NOTABLE:
- Santa Clara shot 46.2-percent (30-of-65) from the floor and went 8-of-21 from behind the arc. The Broncos finished the night 19-of-28 from the free throw line, making their last seven attempts.
- Miller finished with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting and pulled down eight rebounds. Hawkins also scored 19, thanks to a 12-of-14 night at the charity stripe, and was on triple-double watch with nine assists and seven rebounds. Ava Schmidt scored 14 of 5-of-7 shooting to go with eight rebounds while Fox scored 13 with six boards and Maia Jones chipped in 10 points.
- Pacific shot 45.1-percent (32-of-71) from the field and was 10-of-29 from downtown.
- Nestrov led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting. Mindermann finished the game with 12 points and Nyah Lowery scored 10.
- Jones final bucket of the night, a 3-pointer at the 8:09 mark of the fourth quarter gave her 1,000 points for her career.
- Aniya Hooker's layup with 8:11 left in the second quarter broke the program's record of points in a season. The old mark was 2,367 by the 1997-98 team. The Broncos are currently at 2,423.
- With the 12th conference win of the season, Loree Payne now holds the program record for most conference wins by a first-year head coach.
POSTGAME COMMENTS:Â
HIGHLIGHTS:Â
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