Bronco briefs
Men's BasketbalL
Santa Clara 81, LMU 70
The Broncos enjoyed a momentous Saturday night victory over the Lions, who are ranked second in the West Coast Conference. A total of five players for Santa Clara scored in double digits, with both sophomore point guard Brody Angley and junior center Sean Denison reaching their career highs. Sophomore forward Mitch Henke nearly had a triple-double with 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. The Broncos led at halftime, 35-34, and traded lead changes early in the second half before going on a 16-2 run at about the nine-minute mark. The Lions trailed for the remainder of the game.
Santa Clara 62, Pepperdine 56
Senior forward Travis Niesen scored 18 points in his final home game as a Bronco on Monday night, helping his team defeat Pepperdine to earn a sixth seed in the conference tournament. Trailing by four at the break, the Waves tied the game up in the opening moments of the second half. However, Santa Clara responded by going on a 15-4 run and never gave up the lead for the rest of the night. The Broncos were able to capitalize on 17 Pepperdine turnovers and rebounded the ball well offensively to secure the win. The Broncos will take on seventh-seeded Portland in the first round of the West Coast Conference Tournament on Thursday in Spokane.
WOMen's Basketball LMU 89, Santa Clara 74
Santa Clara saw its epic nine-game winning streak snapped on Thursday night in Los Angeles by the second-place Lions of Loyola Marymount. Senior guard Kayla Huss had 19 points in the first half and finished with 22, including four three-point field goals. Junior forward Kasey Monteith tied her career high with 16 points. The Broncos, who went into the locker room at halftime up by 15 points, seemingly controlled the first half. However, the Lions went on some short runs that helped them regain the lead against the Broncos, 69-64, with about eight minutes left to play in the game. Santa Clara failed to make a comeback and lost only their third conference game of the season.
Santa Clara 77, Pepperdine 74
WCC Coach of the Year Michelle Bento-Jackson led her team to a victory on Saturday afternoon, which allowed the Broncos to clinch the No. 1 seed in this weekend's conference tournament. Santa Clara also won a share of the regular-season title along with Gonzaga with the win over Pepperdine. Sophomore guard Tracey Walker had her first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. WCC Player of the Year and senior guard Michelle Cozad had the most points of any Santa Clara scorer with 14. The Broncos found themselves up by 17 with about 13 minutes to play before a wild finish by the Waves got them within one. Sophomore guard Chandice Cronk sunk two clutch free throws with under a minute to play for the win.
BASEbalL
Santa Clara 15, Cal Poly 9
Freshman right-hander Daniel DeMarco earned his third win of the year with a strong Bronco offensive effort. Santa Clara had the same amount of hits as runs, with five Broncos getting multi-hit games. Senior Dustin Realini went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Santa Clara jumped out to an 8-0 lead early in the second inning before the Mustangs made a feverish comeback in the bottom of the third, to go up 8-7. The Broncos came right back with runs in the third, fourth and ninth innings to defeat No. 22 Cal Poly and knock them out of the national rankings.
Santa Clara 7, Cal Poly 5
The Broncos' young and talented pitching staff wrapped up another successful road game on Saturday afternoon as freshman Justin Kuehn nabbed his first win in college, allowing only one earned run in seven-plus innings. The Broncos had another strong second inning, scoring four on Saturday. The Mustangs again tried to stage some offense of their own but were unsuccessful in the end. Freshman closer Mark Willinsky saved his second game in two days and third of the season in the victory. The Santa Clara offense pumped out 12 hits and four Broncos had a multi-hit game.
Cal Poly 3, Santa Clara 2
Santa Clara was not able to sweep Sunday afternoon, falling to Cal Poly by one run. Freshman Matt Wickswat, in six-plus innings of work, allowed three hits and two runs, while striking out four. Sophomore Gabriel Alcantar had his fourth-straight multi-hit game with two singles. The game was tied 2-2 in the top of the ninth with two men on, but Cal Poly's Rocky Roquet stopped any chance of Santa Clara scoring by getting Realini on a pop fly and retiring senior catcher Kris Watts.
SOFTbalL
Utah Valley St. 4, Santa Clara 1
Washington 4, Santa Clara 3
In the first day of doubleheaders at the Husky Fever Classic, Santa Clara dropped both games. Senior pitcher Liz Courter gave up two runs in the second and Utah Valley scored twice more on errors. In the late game, sophomore pitcher Jerrica Castagno gave up four runs on four hits in the second inning. Senior Jessica Clee homered in the fifth, which brought the Broncos to within a run, but the Huskies edged out Santa Clara for the win.
Santa Clara 2, Utah Valley St. 0
Washington 14, Santa Clara 3
Santa Clara scored in the fourth and sixth innings to put the Wolverines away in the morning game. Washington used a six-run second inning to help put away the Broncos in five.
--From staff reports