SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Santa Clara outscored Sacramento State, 12-2, over the last 1:20 of the game, and senior Chandice Cronk’s scored a career-high 33 points, paving the way in the Broncos 67-60 come-from-behind victory in a non-conference women’s basketball game Saturday afternoon at the Hornets Nest.
With the loss, the Hornets fall to 1-5 on the season while the Broncos improve to 5-3.
Sacramento State led nearly the entire second half until Cronk was fouled on a three-point attempt by the Hornets with 1:20 left in the second half. Cronk would hit all three free-throws to tie the game at 58-58. Sacramento State sophomore Erika Edwards rimmed out a three-pointer with just under a minute play leaving the heroics to Cronk who calmly sank a three-pointer from the right wing with 48 seconds to play giving Santa Clara a 61-58 lead they would not relinquish.
The Hornets jumped out to an 11-2 lead early in the contest but saw the Broncos go on a 9-0 run to knot it at 11 with 14:45 in the first half. Santa Clara would eventually take a 29-23 lead with 3:50 remaining, but a three-pointer from freshman Sami Field-Polisso and five Hornet free-throws would cap a 10-0 run and send the Hornets to the locker room with a 33-29 advantage at the break.
Junior Atty Boyer led the first half attack with 11 points by sinking all seven of her free-throw attempts. She also grabbed five rebounds as the Hornets dominated the glass in the first half, 21-13. Also, sophomore Erika Edwards was a perfect 4-4 from the field including two three-pointers giving her 10 points and six rebounds at the intermission. As a team the Hornets shot 53 percent (9-17) from the field and were 11-14 from the charity stripe the first half.
A three-point field goal from freshman Emily Christensen stretched the Hornets lead to 53-46 with 6:42 to play in the contest. However, the Broncos started chipping away at the lead and pulled to within one (53-52) on a jumper by Tracey Walker. Another three-pointer from Edwards pushed the lead to four but three Santa Clara free-throws in consecutive possessions cut the margin to one again (56-55). Edwards would miss a lay-up but rebounded her own miss and the put-back gave the Hornets a 58-55 lead with 1:51 to go.
The Hornets struggled with turnovers again as the Broncos converted 29 points off the 26 giveaways. However, Sacramento State outshot their opponent for the second consecutive game (36.7-34.5) but shot just 28.1 percent in the second half. After only shooting 50 percent from the free-throw line last game, the Hornets converted on 68.2 percent (15-22) including Boyer’s perfect 10-10.
Edwards finished with a season-high 17 points (7-10 FG, 3-5 3FG) and game-high 10 rebounds, recording her first collegiate double-double, but was forced to sit out much of the second half with four fouls. Boyer tallied 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes. Sophomore Charday Hunt scored nine points hitting three field goals from beyond the arc.
Santa Clara’s Cronk finished 10-24 from the floor (5-16 3FG) and hit 8 of 10 free-throws while logging all 40 minutes of game time, while Walker was the only other Bronco in double-digits with 14 points. She also played all 40 minutes finishing with a game-high 5 assists and two steals. Sacramento State did hold the Broncos leading scorer and rebounder Jen Gottschalk to five points and three rebounds after she came in averaging 18.1 ppg and 6.4 rpg.
Sacramento State returns to action this Wednesday, Dec. 5 as they travel to San Francisco to face the Dons. They’ll be back at the Hornets Nest Saturday, Dec. 8 to face Gonzaga in a non-conference affair.
