Continues to Roll

By Josh Griffin

Behind the career milestone of senior point guard Becki Ashbaugh the Santa Clara women's basketball team returned from the Pacific Northwest having split two games with Portland and Gonzaga. The Broncos were defeated Thursday by the Pilots 80-73, while they rebounded to defeat the Bulldogs 81-75 on Saturday.

Ashbaugh reached the 1,000 point plateau in Spokane Saturday against Gonzaga, making her the first Bronco in school history to reach 1,000 points and 500 assists in a career. Santa Clara closed the weekend with a 17-6 record, including 7-3 in conference.

"What she has been able to do is pretty amazing. The 1000point/500 assist thing she has surpassed is great," Head Coach Chris Denker said. "She's the only one in the history of our school and the second in the conference."

Ashbaugh was quick to credit her teammates when asked of the milestone.

"Obviously, assists are a team reward, and it shows that people make a lot of shots, and that I've been playing with a lot of great people. I haven't necessarily been our number one scorer so I think the 1000 points is a career acomplishment."

Despite Ashbaugh's brillance the Broncos could not overcome a career-high 35 points from Khalila O'Rielly-Will iams Thrusday in Portland.

"[Portland] has a couple of good individual players that can really score against anybody, but they tend to rise to the occasion against us. They go off and score thirty," Denker said.

The Broncos were lead by junior forward Tammy Annas, who scored 22. Junior forward Julie Butler added 17 points and five boards, while fellow junior Kendrea Rhea compiled her fifth double-double of the year at 10 points and 11 boards.

The Broncos spent most of the first half exchanging leads, and had to overcome 10 points from O'Rielly-Williams in the first five minutes of the game. The Pilots held the halftime advantage 43-39 and the Broncos never overcame it only briefly holding a lead in the second half.

"We didn't play very well up there, but part of it was that they really rose to their level of play," Denker added.

Santa Clara rebounded well in its victory over Gonzaga at the Martin Center on Saturday night. Santa Clara pulled out to a solid 35-31 halftime lead, and came out firing in the second half to stretch the lead to 48-35 three minutes into the second period.

Gonzaga proceeded to chip away at Santa Clara's 13-point lead throughout the second half, and held a four-point lead with 1:31 remaining. At that point, Annas converted one free throw, before missing her second. Santa Clara controlled the rebound, kicked out to senior guard Caroline Gruening who tied the game at 75 with a three-pointer. Santa Clara then held on, taking the game to its final score of 81-75 by converting six consecutive free throws.

The Broncos continue WCC play this weekend in the Bay Area. USF will host Santa Clara at 7 p.m. on Friday. On Saturday Santa Clara is in for another battle against rival St. Mary's at 3 p.m. in Morega. The Broncos knocked off the Gaels in double-overtime in their last meeting 93-90 two weeks ago at Leavey Center.