STOCKTON, Calif. – Pacific women's basketball dropped the regular season finale against Santa Clara 85-77 on Saturday at Alex G. Spanos Center.
The game also marked Senior Day for
Kadie Deaton,
Josephine Millard,
Rosie Schweizer,
Cecilia Holmberg and
Madelene Ennis. All five were honored before the start of the contest.
Two seniors scored in double figures in their final home game. Schweizer tallied a season-high 16 points while Holmberg finished with 12.
If that wasn't enough, Pacific (16-13, 8-8 WCC) saw juniors
Elizabeth Elliott and
Anaya James reach 1,000 career points. Elliott notched 16 points, joining Schweizer in the leading scorer column. James registered her second-straight double double with 11 points while matching her season-high 10 assists.
The game went through 15 lead changes and 11 ties. The Tigers were down by two against the Broncos at halftime. Out of the locker room, James and Holmberg recorded back to back layups while Elliott drained two free throws to tie the contest at 41-all. Santa Clara (24-7, 12-4 WCC) responded with four unanswered baskets to get back up by nine, 50-41.
With under six minutes left in the third, Schweizer notched a second chance bucket and two free throws to bring Pacific within three. Elliott and Ennis registered layups followed by freshman
Nyah Lowery who drained a three for a 54-53 lead in favor of the home team. Both teams traded buckets with under 3:15 left. Elliott posted back to back layups during the span and had the Tigers up 58-56 at 1:17. Santa Clara erased it with seven straight points to get back on top going into the fourth.
Schweizer notched two significant buckets in the fourth to give the Tigers a chance to get back in front. One that tied the game at 70-all with 5:17 left and the other to bring the team within 73-72 at 3:13. Unfortunately, the Broncos pulled away with a 12-5 run in the final three minutes to bring the game to its final score.
Pacific shot 31-of-59 (.525) from the field, 6-of-20 (.300) at the three-point line and 9-of-12 (.750) from the free throw line. Santa Clara was 27-of-59 (.458) overall, 8-of-24 (.333) from behind the arc and 23-of-28 (.821) at the charity stripe.
The Tigers outscored the Broncos 44-32 in the paint and had 15 points off 13 offensive rebounds.
Up next, Pacific heads into postseason as it competes as the No. 5 seed in the second round of the West Coast Conference Tournament in Las Vegas at 12 p.m. on Friday.
NOTES
-It marked the 67
th meeting between Pacific and Santa Clara.
-The Tigers finish the home slate with a record of 11-5.
-Pacific is now 12-7 when scoring 70 or more points in a game.
-James and Elliott are the first Tigers to reach 1,000 career points since
Valerie Higgins in 2020.
-With her second straight double double, James now has three double doubles in her career.
-Schweizer has been the leading scorer three times in her career. The Canberra, Australia native had double digits each time she led Pacific in points. Elliott has been the leading scorer nine times this season, 19 in her career. The Inglewood, Calif. native also has 22 double figure performances on the year, 57 in her career.
-Holmberg has tallied double figures in her last 10 games and has 19 double digit performances this season, 35 in her career.
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