SANTA CLARA, Calif. - It was only appropriate that on Senior Night, the Santa Clara women's basketball team was paced by seniors Michelle Cozad and Kayla Huss to a 67-53 victory over the San Francisco Dons Friday night at the Leavey Center.
The win extends Santa Clara's streak to nine games, the longest such run by a Broncos squad in 13 years. In 1992-93, the Santa Clara women won 11 games in a row.
With Loyola Marymount's loss to Pepperdine Thursday night putting the Broncos alone at the top of the West Coast Conference, Santa Clara needed to make a statement with a big win over the San Francisco Dons, especially with head-to-head matchups with both the Lions and Waves looming next week.
After being honored in a pregame ceremony along with four-year Team Manager Heidi Spurgeon, Cozad and Huss accounted for over half of SCU's total offense as Cozad scored 23 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, while Huss ended up with 15 points and five assists of her own.
Chandice Cronk added nine points to the effort while Tracey Walker netted eight points and grabbed five rebounds. Ashley Gonnerman also grabbed six rebounds off of the bench for SCU.
Huss and Cozad got things off to a rousing start for the Broncos, scoring 19 of the team's first 24 points in building a 24-11 lead 12 minutes in.
For the rest of the half the Broncos refused to allow the Dons to find a rhythm, forcing them into 11 turnovers and limiting them to only 33.3% shooting from the field.
Cozad's 12 points and nine rebounds in the first 20 minutes allowed the Broncos to head into the locker room at the break with a 34-22 advantage.
The Broncos maintained their double-digit lead throughout the second half as Cozad and Huss continued their inspired play on their night. Each time USF showed glimpses of gaining some momentum, there was a Bronco there to slam the door, as when Anna Martin drained a three from the top of the key to give SCU a 54-40 lead with 9:55 remaining.
From there the margin stayed around the mid-teens as Santa Clara continued to harass the San Francisco offense and cause general chaos.
The first-place Santa Clara Broncos will now travel to the greater Los Angeles area to close out the regular season and hopefully earn their first regular-season WCC title since 2000-01. Thursday night marks the much-anticipated showdown with second-place Loyola Marymount, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. Following that game the Broncos will head to Malibu to close out the conference slate against the Waves in a 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon contest.
