Web update: Women's basketball less than Golden, fall to Minnesota

By Margo Consul

The women's basketball team fell 70-45 to the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Leavey Center in the Broncos' home opener Sunday afternoon.

With the loss, Santa Clara drops to 0-2 on the season as the Gophers now own an even 1-1 record after Minnesota's Friday night loss to Stanford.

The Broncos struggled on defense and could not keep control of the ball; they committed 38 turnovers in the game.

"The whole ball game we struggled to take care of the ball," Head Coach Jennifer Mountain said. "Anytime you have 38 turnovers it's going to be a struggle to win basketball games."

Santa Clara had 21 turnovers in the first half alone and Minnesota took advantage scoring 22 points off those turnovers.

"We are playing so many young players right now that we are making freshman mistakes in and out," Mountain said.

Minnesota won the tip-off and scored the game's initial points on a pair of free throws.

The Broncos tied up the game at 13-13 at 7:25 in the first half but that would not last long as Minnesota went on an 11-0 run to extend their lead to 24-13.

Santa Clara wouldn't score again until 3:28 left in the first half when senior Liz Doran started a Bronco 9-0 run.

Doran and freshman point guard Alyssa Shoji hit back-to-back-to-back threes as Santa Clara started to slowly chip away at Minnesota's lead.

Doran went 3-for-3 from the beyond the arc and finished with nine points and two rebounds.

Shoji scored six points on 2-for-9 shooting, collected five rebounds, one assist and had five turnovers in 40 minutes of play.

Last season, the Broncos were seventh in the nation in the three-point column - they had an average of 7.7 three pointers a game.

Shoji alone attempted eight shots from beyond the arc, making two. Only one of her shots in today's game was not from the three-point line.

Despite Santa Clara gaining momentum, the Gophers remained in control and took a 33-22 lead in locker rooms at halftime.

It was the physical play and it the size of the Gophers that threw the Broncos off their game.

Mountain said some of the Broncos players just could not compete with their bigger opponents.

Bronco post player Lena Gipson, who led the team with 13 points and collected seven rebounds, saw through the Gophers' game plan.

"They were trying to push me around and break me down mentally by getting at me physically," Gipson said. "But I knew I just had to hit them hard back."

Minnesota scored first in the second half and dominated the remainder of the game.

A free throw by Emily Fox gave the Gophers their largest lead of the game at 63-37 with 6:16 remaining in the game.

And a jumper from Claire Goins made it 20-points deficit but at 63-43 that was the closest the Broncos would get.

Minnesota's Katie Ohm and Fox both scored a game-high 17 points.

Santa Clara will next host Sacramento State Thursday, Nov. 20 at the Leavey Center at 7 p.m.

BRONCOS NOTEBOOK:Head Coach Jennifer Mountain was the recipient of the Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative (BAWSI) Best Award before today's game for the team's community service efforts...The Golden Gophers improved to 4-0 all-time against the Broncos with today's win...the last time these two teams met was on Dec. 11, 2004 when the then-ranked No. 16 Minnesota defeated Santa Clara 69-42.

Contact Margo Consul at (408) 551-1918 or at mconsul@scu.edu.