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PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots had a chance to take the lead in the closing seconds, but the baseline jumper was off allowing the Santa Clara Broncos to escape the Chiles Center with a 71-70 win in a West Coast Conference women’s basketball game played on Saturday night. Alyssa Shoji of Santa Clara hit eight three-pointers on the night, while Portland’s Alexis Byrd scored a career-high 22 points.
But it wasn’t enough as the Broncos (11-16, 4-10 WCC) withstood a second-half rally and held on for the win. With the Broncos leading by one with the ball with 13 seconds remaining, the Pilots were forced to foul, sending Lindsey Leo to the line. Leo missed the front end of a one-and-one and Portland’s Amy Pupa secured the rebound. The Pilots then called a time out to set up a final attempt with eight seconds left to play.
The ball went to Day, who took a tough, turn-around jumper from the baseline. The shot bounced off the rim and the Broncos grabbed the rebound to seal the win.
Shoji led the Broncos with 28 points and just missed matching a facility record for three-pointers by one. Leo added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double.
Byrd was feeling it throughout the game, finishing 7-for-10 from the field. She added two three-pointers, three traditional three-point plays and six free throws en route to her career high in points.
Day, Cassandra Brown and Kari Luttinen each scored 13 points for the Pilots (10-18, 3-11 WCC).
The first half was back-and-forth before the Broncos entered halftime with a 39-34 lead. Shoji hit a three-pointer coming out of the break to give Santa Clara its biggest lead at 42-34. The Pilots would respond and eventually pull even with the Broncos when Day went coast-to-coast for a lay-up after making a steal.
Moments later Byrd gave UP its first lead since the first half with a free throw that made it 65-64 with 6:07 to play. Santa Clara would re-claim a two-point lead twice after that, with Portland responding each time with a game-tying lay-up from Day.
SCU’s Ashley Armstrong then hit a baseline jumper to give the Broncos a slim 71-69 lead with less than two minutes to play. UP’s Amy Pupa then pulled the Pilots within one with a free throw with 1:06 showing on the clock. But at the other end, the Broncos got a crucial offensive rebound on a Shoji miss, forcing the Pilots to foul Leo.
Santa Clara shot 45.3 percent, hit 10 three-pointers and went 3-for-5 at the line. The Pilots shot 42.4 percent from the field, connected on six three’s and were 14 of 18 on free throws. Turnovers weren’t much of a factor, and the Broncos claimed a slight 37-34 edge on the glass.
The Pilots were without the services of senior NaKeisha Brown and freshman Jasmine Wooton, who both sat out due to illness.
Portland has two more regular season games remaining and the Pilots next travel to San Francisco, Calif., for a WCC game against the San Francisco Dons at 7 p.m. on Thursday night. Next Saturday’s regular season finale against San Diego at the Chiles Center is set for 2 p.m. Portland will honor its three seniors (Day, Brown and ReZina TecleMariam) with a pre-game ceremony.
