Web update: Women's basketball falls to Gaels in conference opener

By Gabe Taylor

In a high paced, physical battle, the Saint Mary's Gaels edged over the Broncos women's basketball team in a 58-55 heartbreaker Thursday night at the Leavey Center.

With less than one minute remaining, and trailing by two, Rhianna Faithfull connected on a three to give Santa Clara (2-14, 0-1) the lead with 26 seconds left in the game.

But the lead only lasted seconds as Saint Mary's Katie Batlin drove and flipped in a five-footer, to take back the lead for Gaels.

Santa Clara guard Elizabeth Doran attempted to drive baseline, in hopes of scoring the game-winner, but lost control of her dribble and the ball drifted out of bounds.

"We're struggling with doing the little things every single time down the floor," said Santa Clara head coach Jennifer Mountain. "And that's what costs us."

Following two made free throws by Saint Mary's Louella Tomlinson, Doran had one last chance at tying the game, with a three-point attempt but was foiled as Maija Lahde blocked the shot before it even left Doran's hand.

Tomlinson posted a career-high tying 11 blocks, which is also the most blocks against Santa Clara since Charlotte Lusschen of Cal had 13 on Feb. 7, 1985.

The Melbourne, Australia native also grabbed 11 boards and was two points short of her second career triple-double; she finished the game with eight points.

Saint Mary's (5-11, 1-0) opened the game without a sign of timidity on offense. In the first five minutes alone, Saint Mary's fired 11 shots from the field, compared to a five shots attempted Santa Clara in the same span.

Despite the differential in shots, the Broncos remained close.

Following a Gaels basket, Santa Clara answered immediately, scoring six straight points to lead 23-18 over their conference rival.

Although the Broncos were able to hold their own, the Gaels outworked the Broncos to regain the lead on two free throws by Amber Coatney at 26-25 to end the first half.

Both team had difficulty putting the ball through the net in the first half. Santa Clara shot just over 30 percent, while Saint Mary's lagged behind with a 25 percent shooting percentage.

The Gaels opened the second half on a 6-0 run, but the Broncos responded quickly on a three-pointer by Faithfull.

But Santa Clara was unable to gain any momentum, going on a five minute scoring drought midway through the second half.

Saint Mary's took advantage of the cold spell, capitalizing on three free throws and two field goals.

Free throws played a significant role in the game as Saint Mary's shot 26 free throws in comparison to Santa Clara's 10.

"We gave up tons of points in transition and then we put them to the free throw line," said Mountain. "You take away those two things and the outcome's a little different."

However, the Broncos came storming back yet late.

In an intense second half, the Broncos cut the lead to one with just over two minutes to play, but in the end couldn't stop the hot hands of the Gaels who shot 47.6 percent from the field in the second stanza.

Ashlee Smith led the Gaels with a team-high 14 points.

For the Broncos, Lena Gipson once again led the team in scoring with 13 points. Sarah Majors pulled down seven boards to go with her seven points.

The Broncos will look to fight back from their loss on Sunday when they travel to southern California to play University of San Diego on Jan. 10 at 2 p.m.

Contact Gabe Tayor at gtaylor@scu.edu.

BRONCOS NOTEBOOKBy Cecile Nguyen

Santa Clara's six home losses through 16 games this year surpassed their total home losses from all of last season. The Broncos finished 11-4 at the Leavey Center last year. Since the 1995-96 season, Santa Clara has had only one sub-.500 season at the Leavey Center when they went 3-13 in 2003-04. The Broncos owns an all-time record of 269-150 (.642) at home.

Sophomore Lena Gipson leads Santa Clara and the West Coast Conference with 10.5 rebounds per game, but only collected three tonight.

The Gaels are now 2-7 on the road.

Saint Mary's ranks first in the West Coast Conference in blocks per game with 7.1 with Louella Tomlinson averaging a conference-best 5.4 blocks a game entering tonight's game. The 6 foot 4 forward also ranks second in the country in blocks per game.

In Tomlinson's only other game at the Leavey Center, she scored 21 points, collected 11 rebounds and had six blocks.

Contact Cecile Nguyen at (408) 551-1918 or sports@thesantaclara.com.