Jan. 22, 2005
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University women's basketball team dropped an 80-65 contest to West Coast Conference rival Pepperdine on Saturday afternoon at the Leavey Center. With the loss, the Bronco's record drops to 9-9 overall, 3-2 in conference action. The Waves are now 7-12 overall and 3-3 in WCC play.
Pepperdine started out strong as it scored on its first five attempts and built a 10-0 lead at the 16:45 mark in the first half. After a Santa Clara timeout, the Broncos scored the next eight points, capped by a three-pointer from Anna Martin, to cut the Wave lead to two points with 14:14 left in the half.
Another Bronco three-pointer, this time from Michelle Cozad, would even the score at 19-19 with 10 minutes remaining in the period. Ashley Gonnerman then gave Santa Clara its first lead of the contest at the 9:19 mark when her lay-up put SCU ahead, 21-20. The lead would be short lived as Pepperdine rattled off 10 unanswered points over the next three minutes to build a 30-21 advantage. The Waves would keep the Broncos at bay over the final minutes of the half, taking a 45-35 lead into the locker rooms at the break.
Both teams shot well from the floor in the first half as the Broncos connected at a 52% clip (13-25) and were 6-for-9 (66.7%) from beyond the arc. On the other hand, Pepperdine shot 51.4% (18-35) from the field in the first half.
The Broncos would cut the Waves lead in the opening minutes of the second half. A jumper from Kayla Huss brought the Pepperdine lead to 50-46 with 14:40 remaining in the period. However, another Pepperdine scoring run would lead to six straight points and another 10-point lead at 56-46 with 7:59 left in the game. The Waves would lead by double digits throughout the rest of the contest as they pulled away to the 80-65 victory.
Cozad set a new season-high with 24 points in the contest. The junior guard scored 19 of her points in the first half when she connected on six of seven attempts from the field, including four out of four from beyond the arc.
Defensively, Gonnerman led the squad with six rebounds in the game. Gonnerman also score nine points, as did Ashley Graham.
The Waves were led by Jennifer Lacy, who paced Pepperdine with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Daphanie Kennedy added 24 points and eight rebounds for the Waves.
The Broncos will return to action on Thursday when they travel to San Diego for a WCC match-up with the Toreros. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
