Feb. 2, 2002

Box Score

(Santa Clara, CA) - Santa Clara remained perfect at home against a determined effort from USF to capture a 65-64 victory at the Leavey Events Center in West Coast Conference women's action on Saturday. USF (12-9, 4-4 WCC) falls for the fifth straight time at Santa Clara (16-5, 6-2) and are still search for the first win against the Broncos since the 1997 campaign.

San Francisco opened both periods with momentum and led by eight points at the 10 minute mark of each half. In the opening frame, the Lady Dons jumped out to a 18-10 lead with 10:25 remaining then Santa Clara reeled off 11 unanswered points, sparked by three consecutive 3-pointers. USF recovered and the lead was tied for fourth time at intermission at 30-30.

After halftime San Francisco went on a 17-9 run to open the second half and held a 47-39 lead with 9:35 remaining. The Broncos called timeout and USF made consecutive defensive stops, but hoisted hasty attempts. Santa Clara capitalized, bursting out to a 11-3 run to tie the contest at 50-50 with 4:10 remaining.

After a 3-pointer from Alicia Hernandez gave USF a 50-44 edge at 6:54, the Lady Dons suffered through a brutal stretch of nearly 4 ½ minutes without scoring and by then the Broncos held a 54-50 lead, before senior guard Melanie Turner hit a 3-pointer and a baseline jumper to close the deficit to 54-53 with 1:30 remaining. Forced to foul, San Francisco put the Broncos' best free throw shooter on the line three times in the final 90 seconds and senior guard Becki Ashbaugh calmly drained all six attempts to seal the victory.

USF fell despite holding despite a big advantage from the field, converting on .397 (25-63), while the Broncos hit at a .302 (19-63) clip. Santa Clara made their makes count as eight of their 19 field goals came from beyond the 3-point arc. Unfortunately the Lady Dons trailed big in a couple of key categories: offensive rebounds and turnovers. San Francisco lost the battle of the boards 49-43, but were absolutely dominated on the offensive glass 20-12 especially in the second half. The Lady Dons also committed 24 turnovers in the contest, while forcing the Broncos into 17 miscues.

Hernandez led USF with 13 points off the bench, but coughed up six turnovers in 27 minutes. Turner and sophomore forward Carey Sauer each added 11 points for the Lady Dons. Freshman forward Corry Berger seven points to go along with four rebounds. Junior guard Lisa Whiteside added nine points, but just scored two in the second half and pulled down five rebounds in 27 minutes.

San Francisco hosts Pepperdine on Friday Feb. 8 and Loyola on Saturday, Feb. 9 in WCC action to open a season-long four-game homestand. Both games are scheduled for 7:00 PM tip-offs at War Memorial Gym.