WCC Tournament offers chance for redemption

By Blake Twisselman

Sometimes, it's quite refreshing to get a second chance.

Despite the squad's struggles through injuries and inexperience, the Santa Clara women's basketball team will have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start over as the host school at the West Coast Conference Tournament this weekend at the Leavey Center. The Broncos (8-19 overall, 4-10 WCC) finished sixth in the WCC during regular season play and will host the seventh-seeded San Francisco Dons (10-17 overall, 3-11 WCC) this afternoon in first-round tournament action.

The Broncos defeated San Francisco both times during conference play this season. Santa Clara eked out a 49-48 victory in San Francisco on Jan. 10 and blew out the Dons 75-45 just 12 days later at the Leavey Center. Despite their prior successes, the Bronco women can't allow themselves to get complacent in their first-round match up.

"It's hard to beat a team three times in a row," all-conference junior guard Quinn Thomas said. "We're not taking them lightly and everyone plays hard come conference-tournament time, so we've just gotta do what we did in the past and do it even better."

In addition, Santa Clara expects San Francisco to field a much more competitive team than they did the last time they both met at the Leavey Center.

"We have not seen USF at full strength yet this year," Head Coach Michelle Bento said in reference to the Dons' injury problems. "We're gonna see a different team from USF."

The Broncos' advantage of being the host school for the tournament should provide the team with a slight mental edge on the competition, with the benefit of playing in front of a home crowd at the comfortable confines of the Leavey Center.

"It's a comfort zone for us to be in our own gym," Bento commented.

For senior forward Jennie Rondel, hosting the tournament is important for other reasons as well as the psychological factor. "I think it's awesome that the tournament is here," she said. "It's nice that we don't have to travel because I've got tons of school work and it's getting to finals time. Also, we don't have to worry about hotels because we have our own beds. I feel really blessed for that, being a senior."

The tournament should be especially emotional for Bronco seniors Rondel and forward Whitney Sutak, who will put the finishing touches on their careers this weekend.

"Pretty much, we really think we're the underdogs and we're going to go into each game thinking like it's our last," Rondel said. "We're not going to leave anything out there on the court, we're gonna give it all we've got."

Rondel's attitude is also indicative of the scrappy, hard-nosed style of play that Santa Clara has maintained throughout the season. Loyola Marymount's WCC Coach of the Year Julie Wilhoit credited Santa Clara's hustle and expects the Broncos to be one of the more emotional teams in the tournament.

"Michelle Bento's kids play hard for her," said Wilhoit. "They're gonna get up for the tournament and play hard, and when you have a team believing like that, anything is possible."

Despite the home-court advantage, this year's tournament format makes it especially difficult for the Broncos to win the conference championship. Santa Clara would have to win four games to claim the title, whereas other teams would only have to win two or three games.

Third-seeded Pepperdine (16-11 overall, 10-4 WCC) and fourth-seeded Portland (13-14, 8-6) have first-round byes and will not play their first games until Friday afternoon. The Waves will play the winner of Santa Clara-San Francisco and Portland will take on the winner of fifth-seeded Saint Mary's (15-13, 7-7) and eighth-seeded San Diego (6-21, 1-13).

Top-seeded Loyola Marymount (22-5, 13-1) and second-seeded Gonzaga (17-10, 10-4) will not play until Saturday. Loyola Marymount is playing the best basketball in the conference right now, entering the tournament with a 13-game winning streak. The Lions are considered by some to be the favorites to win the tourney, but Wilhoit is worried about her team losing momentum during the elongated break.

"There's definitely advantages and disadvantages to having a first and second round bye," said Wilhoit. "Obviously you get the rest, but the teams that get to play early in the tournament have a chance to get their feet wet and calm some tournament jitters."

In contrast to the men's tournament, the women's tournament could be potentially won by a number of teams. In the final weekend of the season alone, Saint Mary's came within grasp of knocking off Loyola Marymount before losing 57-55. Cellar-stricken San Diego lost an extremely close game against Gonzaga by a score of 55-53.

"Anyone can beat anyone on any given night," Bento explained. "I really believe that this tournament is up for grabs."

Wilhoit echoed Bento's opinions regarding the overall competitiveness of the WCC.

"The parody across this conference is so even. It's just up for grabs, coach to coach, player to player, there are some really talented people in this league."

With so many well-balanced teams in the tournament, the Broncos will hope to utilize their intensity and home court to gain an advantage on the rest of the field and make a run in the tournament.

"We're really going into the tournament focusing on one game at a time," Bento said. "Our goal is to focus on playing a full 40 minutes of basketball and giving 100 percent effort. I know it sounds sort of cliche, but it's time for everyone to step it up."

û Contact Blake Twisselman at (408) 554-4852 or jtwisselman@scu.edu.