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A handful of local athletes helped the Santa Clara women's water polo team fashion a 2-1 record while opening its Western Water Polo Association season in the process.

After dropping a 16-6 decision to No. 11 Hawaii on Friday, the Broncos bounced back to beat Cal State Monterey Bay, 8-6, in WWPA action before downing Fresno Pacific, 17-8. Santa Clara is now 3-4 overall (1-2 in league).

Senior goalie Stephanie Clements from Sacred Heart Prep had nine saves against Cal State Monterey Bay while freshman Elizabeth Anderson from Gunn High tossed in four goals. Anderson's sister, Jenny, added a pair of assists.

In the win over Fresno Pacific, the Anderson sisters each tallied two goals while Clements had five saves. Paly grad June Afshar also played in goal, stopping three shots. Clements and Afshar each had three saves in the loss to Hawaii.

"In between games, we re-focused on Fresno," said SCU coach Keith Wilbur, the one-time Menlo School boys' coach. "It was our last game of the weekend, so it was critical to come out strong, and with good energy. I think that showed with our defense, while our counter attack created a lot of offense."

Women's basketball
Gunn High grad Jasmine Evans scored five points in 14 minutes to help Harvard defeat Brown, 68-58, in Ivy League action on Saturday. The Crimson improved to 3-1 in league (12-6 overall).

Women's swimming
As a Gunn senior last season, Rachael Acker became the first athlete to defeat Palo Alto's Jasmine Tosky in an individual event in high school competition during Tosky's fabulous prep career.

Just to show that the victory last season was no fluke, Acker did it again this past weekend when her Cal team hosted Tosky and the USC women in a Pac-12 Conference dual meet in Berkeley.

Acker and Tosky went head to head twice -- in the 100-yard free and on the opening leg of the 400 free relay. In the 100, Acker was second in 49.73 and Tosky was fourth in 50.29. On the relay, Acker led off with a 49.90 for her 100-yard leg while Tosky came home in 50.48.

Cal won the final 400 free relay in 3:19.01 and Acker anchored the opening 200 medley relay to victory in 1:38.83. Tosky and the Trojans, however, still prevailed, 155-145.

— Palo Alto Online Sports

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