Santa Clara women’s basketball secured a 72-47 victory over San Diego State on Wednesday. The Broncos improved to 4-2 for the season, while the Aztecs dropped to 3-2.
Santa Clara took control early in the game, gaining a lead less than two minutes after tip-off. By the end of the first quarter, an 8-0 run put them ahead 17-6. San Diego State briefly narrowed the gap with a three-pointer at the start of the second quarter, but Santa Clara responded with three consecutive shots from beyond the arc and maintained a double-digit advantage for the rest of the game.
The Broncos extended their lead further with additional scoring runs in the second quarter and entered halftime leading 45-17. Maia Jones played a key role, scoring five straight points midway through the third period to push Santa Clara’s lead to 30 points. Her jumper later in that quarter gave her team its largest lead at 33 points. The Broncos were ahead 60-28 going into the fourth.
San Diego State had its highest-scoring period in the final quarter but was unable to close the gap significantly.
Santa Clara finished shooting 40.3 percent from the field and made 11 of their 25 attempts from three-point range, collecting 17 assists during the game. Maia Jones led all scorers with a season-high 25 points on nine-of-16 shooting, including five-of-nine from deep. Ava Schmidt added ten points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Ashley Hawkins also grabbed nine rebounds, while Kate Schat contributed nine points.
The Broncos won on the boards as well, out-rebounding San Diego State by a margin of 56-36.
San Diego State struggled offensively, making only one of their 29 three-point attempts and finishing at just over 24 percent shooting from the field. Nat Martinez and Kaelyn Hamilton each scored twelve points for San Diego State, while Bailey Barnhard led her team with seven rebounds.
Prior to this game, San Diego State had averaged more than 79 points per contest and had been making over ten three-pointers per game during a three-game winning streak in which they averaged nearly 88 points.
After this win on the road, Santa Clara will host Fresno State on Sunday at 1 p.m.
