Nov. 30, 2005

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After earning their first victory of the season Monday night, an 80-63 decision over Central Florida, the Santa Clara women's basketball team hits the road to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Portland State Vikings before returning to host UC Irvine Sunday afternoon at the Leavey Center.

The Broncos showed in Monday's win the extent of the damage that their outside shooting was capable of inflicting, nailing a school-record 15 three-pointers including a 55-second stretch which saw Ashley Graham, Kayla Huss and Michelle Cozad hit back-to-back-to-back threes off of UCF turnovers.

Cozad paced SCU with a fine all-around night, scoring 22 points, grabbing nine rebounds and making five steals. As a team, the Broncos made 14 thefts as the press flustered the Golden Knights.

The Broncos will seek to continue build on this momentum as they head north to Portland State. The Vikings (4-1) are coming off of a 68-62 win over San Jose State Tuesday night and also have a 67-65 upset of Arkansas under their belt.

Forward Kelsey Kahle earned Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors after averaging 20.0 points and 11.0 rebounds last week, including a 24-point, 15-rebound effort against the Lady Razorbacks. Center Brianna Thompson also stars for the Vikings, averaging 13.5 points and 9.3 rebounds prior to Tuesday night's game.

"We definitely were pleased with our result in the Central Florida game, primarily on the defensive end," said head coach Michelle Bento-Jackson. "We are just hoping to continue to build off of that and carry that momentum into this game against Portland State."

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday night from the Stott Center in Portland.