By Jeff Faraudo
#WCChoops columnist | ARCHIVES
 
If Santa Clara coach Bill Carr had any concern about his team being rusty Saturday, the Broncos tossed that aside that by opening the game with seemingly endless parade of layups.
 
The No. 4 seeded Broncos scored 20 points in the paint in the first quarter alone, shot 72 percent in the first half and never trailed on the way to an 83-68 win over Loyola Marymount in the quarterfinals of the University Credit Union West Coast Conference Tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. 
 
Santa Clara (14-10) advances to Monday’s 11 a.m. semifinal against top-seeded and regular-season champion Gonzaga (21-3).
 
Off for 10 days, Santa Clara looked fresh and ready to go against eighth-seeded LMU (7-19), which was playing its third game in as many days with a rotation of just seven players.
 
The Broncos were in attack mode from the start, driving the ball to the hoop against minimal resistance from the Lions. Santa Clara made 10 layups in the first quarter on the way to a 25-18 lead and shot 15 for 19 inside the arc in the first half to sculpt a 47-25 advantage.
 
“I wasn’t thrilled having 10 days off. We came in fresh. This group competed in practice really well and we didn’t lose our edge,” Santa Clara coach Bill Carr said. 
 
“At this time of the year you hope you’re crisp and playing together and playing your best basketball. We were up against a hot team.”
 
The Broncos face a far stiffer challenge against Gonzaga, the nation’s 18th-ranked team, which won both matchups this season and has won 11 straight in the series.
 
Asked for his thoughts on the Zags, Carr said, “My thought is I’m going to enjoy this one. There’s some truth to that. This time of year when you win a game in a conference tournament you have to enjoy it. I want the team to enjoy it. 
 
“We’ll get to Gonzaga tonight, tomorrow. They’re really good. They don’t have many weaknesses. But we’ll be here at 11 on Monday and we’ll be ready to go.”
 
The Broncos were ready to go Saturday. Senior Merle Wiehl scored a career-high 28 points on 11-for-15 shooting and junior Lindsey VanAllen had 22 on 9 of 12 from the field.
 
Meanwhile, the Broncos’ defense scored 29 points off 19 LMU turnovers and took away the Lions’ 3-point shot. Chelsea Gipson, who averaged 19.5 points and was 11 for 19 from deep in the Lions’ wins over Pepperdine and defending WCC tournament champ Portland, didn’t make her team’s first 3-pointer until there was 4:51 left in a 25-point game.
 
“We definitely focused on her,” Wiehl said of Gipson. “We wanted to take out the 3-point line, make them drive and have help there.”
 
Gipson finished with 15 points, but the Broncos made it tough on her. “We saw the two games Loyola played. Gipson was hot and when she gets going, they get going,” Carr said. “There was a big emphasis on taking the 3-ball away. We took a weapon away from them.”
 
WIEHL LIGHTS UP LMU, AGAIN: In three games this season against Loyola, Wiehl has total 76 points, an average of 25.3 per game. She shot 65 percent in those games and made 13 of 23 attempts from 3-point range.
 
Wiehl credited her teammates and the squad’s execution. “We get open looks if everyone does what they’re supposed to do,” she said.
 
LIONS’ RUN ENDS: LMU arrived at Las Vegas having lost 11 straight games. But the Lions took advantage of a fresh start in the WCC tournament, winning twice to reach the quarterfinals. 
 
“You never want to lose, but I can sit here and talk about how proud I am of this group. We battled many, many things and showed ourselves what we’re capable of,” said coach Charity Elliott, whose injured-ravaged team brought just eight players to the tournament. 
 
“I am nothing but proud and excited about where we’re going. We’ve got everybody coming back in this group — they all want to be a part of it. Our best days are ahead of us.”
 
CLARK’S COMING-OUT PARTY: LMU sophomore forward Khari Clark was ready for a big weekend, her coach said, and she delivered. Clark scored a career-high 20 points on Thursday against Pepperdine, then topped that with 21 against Portland.
 
She had 16 points and seven rebounds against Santa Clara and finished the three games averaging 19.0 points on 66 percent shooting. 
 
When Clark came to the sidelines after fouling out late in the game, Elliott told her, “This weekend is your coming-out party. We’re never going back. You now have stepped into a new role, a new mindset of confidence, ability.
 
“There’s no more, `She could be so good.’ She is good and she showed that weekend.”
 
STAT OF THE GAME: The Broncos shot 79 percent — 15 for 19 — on first-half attempts inside the 3-point arc.
 
QUOTE OF THE GAME: “We just have to be ready to play. We’re definitely very confident in our ability. It’s not an accident that we are at the spot we came in here. We’re excited to get another shot at them.” — Santa Clara senior Merle Wiehl on facing top-seeded Gonzaga in Monday’s semifinal