PROVO, Utah – Coming down to the wire in the West Coast Conference, Santa Clara women's basketball fell to first place BYU 70-63 on Saturday afternoon on the road.

Despite looking like the game was over, Santa Clara mounted a 7-0 run over 20 seconds in the fourth quarter thanks to three turnovers by BYU. Lori Parkinson and Taylor Berry both converted three-point plays to make the score 65-59 with just over a minute to go.

After a few free throws by the Cougars, Santa Clara hit back-to-back buckets to make the score 68-63 with 24 seconds on the clock but there wasn't enough time for the Broncos to finish the comeback.

Santa Clara (19-6, 10-4 WCC) had four scorers in double-figures with Parkinson's 16 leading the way. Marie Bertholdt scored 13, Kyla Martin scored 11 and Morgan McGwire scored 10 with a team-high seven rebounds.

Mackenzie Pulsipher led all scorers with 25 points on 7 of 14 shooting and Kalani Purcell added 17 for BYU (22-4, 14-1 WCC). Purcell also grabbed 20 rebounds and dished out six assists. Lexi Rydalch scored 12 on just 3 of 14 shooting.

After a quick bucket by Santa Clara to start the second half, BYU turned up the defensive pressure and went on a 7-0 run to build the lead out to 38-29. Despite their late run, Santa Clara would never pull even.

The Cougars scored the first six of the fourth quarter. By the time Santa Clara was able to get back on the board with a jumper from Berry, BYU had a 53-41 lead with six minutes to go.

A jumper by Savanna Hanson with 6:37 to go in the second quarter gave the Broncos a brief 18-17 lead and dreams of an upset. The Cougars followed with at 13-4 run over the next five minutes to get a lead of 30-22. The Broncos were able to answer and get the score to 31-27 at the half.

Santa Clara returns to action Thursday at 6 p.m. vs. LMU in Leavey.