Portland, OR - The University of Portland women’s basketball team lost a tough battle to Santa Clara University, 79-69 on Sat., Mar. 1 at the Chiles Center. Portland finishes the regular season 11-16 overall, 5-9 in WCC Play. Santa Clara improves to 18-9 on the season and 9-5 in the WCC.

Portland withstood a furious start by the Broncos who jumped out to a 9-0 lead just three minutes into the game. The Pilots cut the lead to two with 12:39 left on a Jamie Medley jumper. Cecily O’Rielly-Williams made it a one point game with a free throw two minutes later. The Broncos regained control over the next ten minutes behind the hot shooting of reserve guard Whitney Sutak who hit three treys and had 14 first half points. The Broncos finished the half with a 45-35 lead.

SCU shot 58 percent (18-31) from the field in the half compared to Portland’s 50 percent (14-28). The Broncos were paced by point guard Kayla Huss who tallied seven points and dished out seven assists in the first twenty minutes.

In the second half, the Broncos took a 51-35 lead on consecutive three pointers by Quinn Thomas and Huss. Portland responded with back-to-back jumpers by Ashlee Giles and Hanna Seltzer with 16:51 left to make it a 51-41 game. SCU held a double digit lead until the 9:47 mark when Medley’s layup cut the lead to nine (63-54). Portland eventually made it a three point game (72-69) on a Giles basket with 2:21 left. Huss answered on the next possession with a deep trey as the shot clock expired to extend the lead back to six and the Pilots could not recover.

For Portland, Seltzer and Giles led the way with 17 points apiece. Seltzer added six boards and four assists, while Giles grabbed three boards and handed out three assists. Medley recorded her first double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 boards. Everyone who played for the short-handed Pilots contributed at least one basket. Portland was without its leading scorer Khalila O’Rielly-Williams tonight.

The Pilots stayed close by scoring 20 points off 17 SCU turnovers. A second half full court press counteracted the size mismatches for Portland. Aggressive defense and continued penetration on the offensive end made the game interesting.

“The kids played incredibly hard,” said Head Coach Jim Sollars. “Everyone gave us a great effort. I will never fault kids when they play that hard.”

The Broncos had five players score in double-figures for the game, led by Kim Butler’s 16 points. Sutak finished with 14, while Huss had 13 points and 10 assists. Tammy Annas also had a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards. Quinn Thomas added 12 for the Broncos. SCU shot 28-of-52 (54 percent) from the floor and 8-of-18 (44 percent) from behind the arc tonight.

Portland was out-rebounded, 33-26, but out-scored SCU 32-30 in the paint. Portland was 28-of-58 (48 percent) from the field and 4-of-19 (21 percent) from three-point range.

UP NEXT: From Thurs.-Sat., Mar. 6-9, Portland will compete for the WCC Tournament crown in San Diego, CA.