Women snap losing streak with a conference win

By Gabe Taylor

The women's basketball team snapped their longest losing streak in over 30 years with Saturday's win.

It was Santa Clara's longest losing streak since the 1977-1978 season, when they also lost 11 straight games from Jan. 5 to Feb. 11. That team ended with a 4-20 overall record and was 1-11 in the Northern California Athletic Conference.

But the Broncos' worst losing streak was in the 1976-1977 season, when they lost 19 consecutive games.

Saturday's victory, the team's first conference win of the season, broke an 11-game losing streak and gave the team a sense of hope just prior to the upcoming conference tournament.

Fans turned out in high numbers Saturday to help cheer on Santa Clara as they came out on top with a 51-46 victory over the University of San Francisco at the Leavey Center.

With the West Coast Conference Tournament around the corner, the women's basketball team has one final shot to turn their season around.

Senior Sara Majors said the win reminded the team of the excitement of a victory. "It felt so good to win," said Majors. "It reminded us how good it feels to win."

Broncos' leading scorer Lena Gipson said the win was a needed confidence booster.

With the win, the Broncos are now 1-11 in conference and 3-24 overall with only today's matchup at Gonzaga and Saturday's game at Portland remaining before the start of the WCC Tournament.

Gipson had high hopes for the team at the beginning of the season, believing they had the ability to pull into second or third place by the end of the season.

The season thus far has not coincided with Gipson's original outlook, but it has been a season of growth and development.

"Looking at things, we've grown a lot as a team," said head coach Jennifer Mountain. "The whole point right now is to grow as athletes and to grow as a team.

Added Majors, "It's challenged me a lot this year, as well as each of us as individuals on the team."

But now Santa Clara will face the true test at the WCC tournament, which begins on March 6 in Las Vegas.

"I really believe that we can compete with everybody in the conference," said Mountain.

In order to do so, she said the team needs to toughen up through all 40 minutes of play.

Even though the Broncos have only picked up one win in conference, many of the games have been relatively close at the half. They have lost nine games this season by 10 points or less, and have blown the game five times this year.

A constant struggle for the Broncos has been their inability to hold off teams in the later parts of the second half.

Throughout the season, Mountain has consistently given credit to Gipson and Majors for helping carry the team on the court. Majors has impressed the first-year coach with her defensive presence and ability to harass the offensive players.

Despite the praise, Gipson said it is difficult for her to say she played her best with the kind of season the team has had. However, she has continuously led the team in scoring, averaging 13 points per game.

Although Gipson has averaged a double-double for most of the season, she just fell under, averaging 9.9 rebounds. With two regular-season games left, however, Gipson can work to bring her average back into double figures.

With returning players in Gipson and freshman Alyssa Shoji, Mountain is positive about fighting back from this season.

"All the girls here who are returning have been through the fire," Gipson said. "We know what it's like to fall just short, and we'll all keep that in the back of our minds next season."

Mountain believes the team has the ability to pull off an upset at next week's tournament.

"It's anybody's game in the tournament," said Mountain, who played college basketball at Gonzaga. To this day, Mountain ranks in the top ten for field goals made at Gonzaga.

The rest of the team remains just as optimistic in hoping to pull off a great shocker the WCC Tournament. "I'm expecting to go in and turn some heads," said Gipson.

Contact Gabe Taylor at gtaylor@scu.edu.