SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Closing out a three-game Hilltop homestand, the University of San Francisco women's basketball team (11-14, 7-5) fell to Santa Clara (20-7, 8-4) on Thursday night in a competitive 73-65 contest.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- San Francisco opened the contest with an early 9-6 lead through four minutes of play, courtesy of buckets from Debora dos Santos, Luana Leite, and Aya Kéita, but a quick 11-0 run by Santa Clara put the Broncos up 17-9 at 3:15.
- The Dons quickly narrowed the deficit, ending the quarter on a 9-3 burst, with six points from dos Santos, as the first period ended with the Broncos on top, 20-18.
- Opening the second quarter, Jasmine Gayles found Cami Fulcher for a three-pointer to give the lead back to the Dons, 21-20 at the 9:41 mark. Santa Clara followed suit with a 13-4 spurt to go up 33-24 with less than four minutes to play in the period.
- The two teams continued to exchange baskets to end the half, and the Dons headed into the locker room in a 37-30 deficit.
- Santa Clara scored the first four points of the third quarter to extend its lead to 41-30, but San Francisco went on a 12-1 spurt, capped off with a turnaround jumper by Freja Werth to cut the deficit to two, 43-41 at 4:41.
- Santa Clara quickly regained control of the contest, ending the period on a 15-3 run, with seven points coming from Tess Heal, to hold a 58-44 lead going into the fourth quarter.
- The Dons continued to battle in the final period, outscoring the Broncos 21-15 in the quarter, but Santa Clara held on to steal a 73-65 victory on the road.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:
- Both Gayles and dos Santos co-led the green and gold in scoring, each tallying 16 points. Gayles went 9-fof-10 from the foul line, with all of her attempts coming in the second half.
- Debora dos Santos tallied her 14th double-double of the season, grabbing 13 rebounds to go along with her 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor.
- Leite and Fulcher rounded out the double-figure scorers for the Dons, scoring 14 and 10 points, respectively.
- As a squad, San Francisco outrebounded Santa Clara, 39-31, and outshot the Broncos from the free-throw line, making 16 free throws to the Broncos' nine.
POSTGAME WITH THE DONS:
UP NEXT:
San Francisco head back on the road for a three-game road trip, beginning the stretch next Thursday, Feb. 22 in Spokane as the Dons will face No. 17 Gonzaga at McCarthey Athletic Center.
FOLLOW US:
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MERCHANDISE:
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SPONSOR THE DONS:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge and thank our sponsor –
Catholic Charities - for their continued support of USF Athletics. Interested in sponsoring the Dons? Please contact
Frank Allocco, the Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director of External Relations, at fallocco@usfca.edu or at (415) 422-4561.
