Women's Basketball Continues Improving

By Henry Gula

With a record of 9-6 (1-1 in conference), the Broncos are "well set up for a good conference schedule," according to fifth-year Head Coach Jennifer Mountain.

After compiling an 8-5 record in the non-league portion of their schedule, the Broncos went on the road and beat University of Portland 59-58 before falling to Gonzaga University two days later, 79-50.

"That was a tough road trip," said Mountain. "The split was a good result."

The team will face Loyola Marymount University on Thursday at the Leavey Center before traveling to Malibu to face Pepperdine University next week.

"It's a good little stretch here," said Mountain of the coming matchups. "We're playing Loyola Marymount who's better but only has two key players and lacks a big scorer. That being said, and I say it a thousand times, it's going to be a dogfight every night in conference."

Forward Lindsay Leo and guard Ricki Radanovich have been key players thus far in the season according to Mountain. She expects them to continue to produce results at a high level through the conference season.

Radanovich currently leads the Broncos with 464 minutes played and is averaging 11.5 points per game, while Leo has racked up 90 rebounds while averaging 9.7 points per game.

Mountain called Leo "our biggest impact player," but said, "The nice thing about this group is that we don't have one particular star, we have a lot of people that can produce. It makes us hard to guard."

She also mentioned guard Raquel "Rocky" Avila, calling her job as a starting guard "tremendous," especially as a sophomore who didn't get a lot of playing time after walking-on last season.

Overall, spirits are high and the prospects for the young season are bright for the Broncos.

"We're better. We've gotten better every year, we have more depth than we've ever had, and we're injury free for the most part," said Mountain. "We have more talent. We've played six or seven people, can play multiple lineups, and have a three-guard post rotation, which is really nice." 

Contact Henry Gula at hgula@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.