SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Playing without its starting point guard due to injury, Santa Clara women's basketball lost to San Diego 70-58 on Saturday afternoon in Leavey in a physical game.

The third quarter doomed Santa Clara, with the Broncos being outscored 20-7 during the period. The Toreros scored the first nine points of the second half with the first seven coming from Maya Hood.

"In the third quarter they came out and got some big rebounds and raised the level of play," said Santa Clara head coach JR Payne. "I thought we did too but they came up with the offensive boards and were more aggressive. They came out in a zone which slowed us down a little bit."

San Diego (13-2, 3-1 WCC) got a game-high 19 from Hood on 7 of 12 shooting from the field. She added seven boards and six steals. Katherine Hamilton scored 15 and Malina Hood scored 11.

Lori Parkinson led Santa Clara (12-5, 3-3 WCC) with 13 points and picked up three steals. Dru Toleafoa and Devin Hudson both added 12 points while Hudson picked up nine rebounds.

"We did a better job against their pressure than I expected us to," said Payne. "People were handing the ball that aren't used to it out of necessity so I was proud of how the team responded. We switched things up a little bit defensively and played a lot of man-to-man but the difference in the game was on the glass."

Dru Toleafoa drilled a 3-pointer in the face of a defender with the shot clock winding down in the final minute of the second quarter. She followed it up with an offensive rebound and put back just before the end of the half to make it 34-all.

San Diego used a 9-0 run over three minutes to take a 25-17 lead with 9:47 to go in the second quarter. The Broncos came right back with a 6-0 run of their own but Malina Hood knocked down a 3-pointer to keep the Toreros on top.

Santa Clara returns to action Thursday at 7 p.m. at Pepperdine.