Women shooting for improvement

By Jackson Morgus

It has been a tough start for Santa Clara, but the important portion of the season is upcoming for Head Coach Jennifer Mountain's squad. With non-conference action in their rear view, the Broncos will travel to San Diego to take on their Toreros of the University of San Diego in their West Coast Conference opener.

The USD game will be the first of 14 straight conference tilts for Santa Clara. The team will be glad to have the non-conference portion out of the way, as they struggled to a 2-13 start against national competition.

Despite a tumultuous start, there have been a few bright spots for Santa Clara. The most notable was a December 13 win on the road in Stockton against Pacific.

The pre-conference schedule was extremely difficult, as the Broncos took on opponents from traditional power conferences, including the Pac-10, the Big 10, the Big East and the Mountain West Conference.

The 2-13 record does not tell the whole story for the Broncos, though. Even with a less experienced team, they have been able to hang tough against some of the power teams in the nation. Six of their losses have come in close games, decided by less than ten points.

"We've been able to compete with some pretty big-name schools with seven freshman on the team," said junior forward Lena Gipson.

While Gipson leads the team with the strongest statistical showing thus far, averaging a double-double with 10.2 rebounds per game and 12.9 points per game, it has been a balanced attack for the Santa Clara offense. Gipson, sophomore guard Alyssa Shoji, who leads the team with 13.7 points per game, and freshman guard Meagan Fulps (11.5 PPG) are all averaging double figures.

"We have so many scoring threats," said Jennifer Mountain, who is in her second season as the Santa Clara head coach. "There are four or five people on the floor at a given time who can shoot the ball."

The team is not allowing themselves to be discouraged by a record that did not match their preseason hopes. Instead, they are taking the positives from their difficult start.

"If there is one thing that our team is good at, it is maintaining a positive attitude," said Gipson.

"We think that we had the toughest pre-season schedule in the conference," Mountain said. "It has prepared us for the conference schedule."

For Mountain and her squad, the conference schedule will define their level of success this season. Despite early struggles, they have lofty expectations for the conference schedule.

"We really feel like we can finish in the top four. That is our goal right now," Mountain said.

The youth that has been infused on the Broncos' roster will be key if they are to turn around from 2008-2009's last place finish. Santa Clara have seven freshman that have seen time at the Leavey Center

The team is also aware of what they need to do in order to play up to their potential.

Mountain has been emphasizing that in order to turn around, they need to share the ball, distributing it to a plethora of scorers.

One of the main struggles for the young team is attitude and morale. To combat this, the team stresses a group mentality. Both players and coaches identify cohesion and teamwork as a key to success for the rest of the year. Gipson went as far as to say that there was not one person who had stepped up, but rather that they should be looked at as an entire unit.

"It is not going to be one person that has to step up. It is going to be a group effort," Mountain said.

It will be a fresh start for the Broncos, who will travel to San Diego Friday. There is reason for optimism for a young team that has garnered key experience, having taken on the elite of women's college basketball.

With a full, healthy roster for the first time this season, the young Santa Clara women have learned the pertinent lessons and are ready to take on the WCC.

Contact Jackson Morgus at jmorgus@scu.edu or (408) 551-1918.