St. Mary's halts Santa Clara's win streak at four games

By Gina Massetani

After four consecutive wins, the women's basketball team was more than ready to test their talent against Saint Mary's, ranked number two in the West Coast Conference. Although Meagan Fulps had an impressive career high of 30 points that night, one three pointer and several foul shots forced the Broncos into a 77-68 loss.

"We went in looking to throw the first punch," said sophomore Ashley Armstrong. "Saint Mary's is one of our biggest rivals. We just really wanted to make a statement. It was important for us to get in there and show we are ready to compete with anyone in conference."

The Broncos planned to keep their winning streak alive, battling to stay with the Gaels throughout the entire game. After a hard-fought first half, Santa Clara went into halftime with a 29-25 lead. The teams continued to scrap throughout the second half.

In the final minutes of the game, the teams started swapping leads, keeping fans on the edge of their seats. The Broncos were dealt a serious blow when Jasmine Smith connected from deep to put the Gaels up 71-68 with under a minute to go.

Saint Mary's managed to score the next six points of the game, keeping Santa Clara scoreless in the final minute of the game.

But even with the loss, Santa Clara remained optimistic. Although the team did not come out victorious, the Broncos proved that they are indeed a formidable competitor.

"We competed," said Gipson. "Everyone thinks that we are a joke. That was a shock. Even though we did not come out on top this time, take away the free throws that they made at the end of the game, and it was anyone's game. No one expected us to be up at the half."

With the team in the midst of conference play, they are trying to learn as much as possible from every game to prepare for the rest of the season.

"We definitely can't have defensive let-ups," said Armstrong. "We let two three-pointers that were very critical to the game occur."

The loss to Saint Mary's has only geared the Broncos up even more for their biggest rival game against Gonzaga.

"We know we can fight with Gonzaga. It is a huge mental game. If we go in with the mentality that we are the bottom of the conference and Gonzaga is the top they will run all over us," said Gipson. "We shouldn't be scared; we know we can take it to them."

Santa Clara hits the road for the next couple of days, facing off against Gonzaga before heading to Portland.

"People don't believe we can do it again. Going into the games on Thursday and Saturday we are going to turn some heads," said Gipson.

Playing in Spokane is nothing new to the Broncos.

 "It's a positive, fun and energetic place to play in," added Gipson. "You can use that to your advantage even though you are the away team."

The women's basketball team faces off against Gonzaga Thursday at 6:05 pm and University of Portland Saturday for a day game at 2 p.m.

Contact Gina Massetani at gmassetani@scu.edu or (408) 551-1918.