Women’s Basketball Sweeps SoCal
Broncos win over Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount
Jack PriceTHE SANTA CLARAJanuary 21, 2016
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Santa Clara women's basketball team ignited a new winning streak this past weekend in Southern California. The Broncos beat both Pepperdine University and Loyola Marymount University in two close games on Thursday and Saturday respectively.
At Pepperdine’s stunning hillside stadium, Santa Clara came out hard and won 62-60.
In preparation, the Broncos made some changes in play, and built upon their losses from the previous week.
“We spent more time working on our zone offense since we struggled in that area versus USD last weekend,” said Head Coach JR Payne. “I do believe this extra prep gave us confidence against Pepperdine’s zone defense.”
The Broncos started off strong, ending the first quarter leading 17-11.
By the end of the third quarter the Broncos limited the Waves to only 38 points, compared to their 51.
Pepperdine made a brief comeback and scored 22 points in the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough to win the game.
Lori Parkinson, a Santa Clara junior averaging 15.1 points per game this season, scored 21 points and generated five steals. Senior Devin Hudson led the team with seven rebounds.
Pepperdine played their whole team, most of whom were in the game for at least 10 minutes. They had 45 total rebounds, 10 more than Santa Clara.
On Saturday against LMU, Santa Clara won in another close game ending 57-56.
“Our biggest strength versus LMU was definitely our rebounding,” Coach Payne said. “We always want that to be an area of focus, but we were particularly diligent in that area at LMU.”
The Broncos came up big with a team total of 50 rebounds, at least one by every single player on the roster.
They played to the hoop throughout the game and scored 32 points in the paint. Lori Parkinson and Marie Bertholdt led the team in scoring, putting up 15 and 17 points respectively.
LMU outscored Santa Clara in the 1st and 4th quarters, but were not able to come away with the win.
The Lions played well on turnovers and had 16 steals, while Santa Clara had 10.
Next Saturday afternoon, the women’s team plays the University of San Francisco at home.
This will be the first time the two teams meet this year. The Broncos anticipate a well-fought game.
“USF is a very tough and physical team, so it will be two similar teams matching up on Saturday,” Coach Payne said. “We will need to match their physicality and be able to contain their athletic players on the perimeter.”
Contact Jack Price at jhprice@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.