SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Going for its 20th win of the season, Santa Clara women's basketball beat LMU 68-41 on Thursday night in Leavey.

It is the 10th time Santa Clara has won 20 games in a season and the first since 2007-08 when the Broncos finished 20-11 and second in the WCC.

Their 11th conference win is also the most since 2005-06 when the team finished 11-3 and tied for first in the WCC.

"Our record is a testament to the kids that are playing," said Santa Clara head coach JR Payne. "We don't have a lot of bodies right now but even the injured kids are giving everything they've got to this season. I'm really proud of all of them."

Santa Clara (20-6, 11-4 WCC) used its stifling defense to control the game. The Broncos picked up 17 steals and scored 21 points off turnovers.

LMU (9-18, 5-11 WCC) committed 24 turnovers and struggled shooting the basketball. The Lions shot just 32.0 percent from the field.

"We talked about active hands and being loud and vocal," said Payne. "We did a good job of that and it kick started our offense. We shot 50 percent from the floor because of our great defense leading to offense."

Santa Clara absolutely dominated the second quarter by outscoring LMU 21-6. After scoring the final six points of the first quarter, the Broncos would go on a 22-0 run over eight and a half minutes to take a 28-11 lead with 3:47 left in the first half.

Taylor Berry led all scorers with 15 points and collected five steals.

Lori Parkinson scored 14 with nine boards and had five steals as well.

"Lori came out with something to prove tonight," said Payne. "She took their comeback in the first game personally and was ready to be aggressive."

Morgan McGwire (14) and Marie Bertholdt (12) rounded out the double-digit scorers for Santa Clara.

"Morgan was great tonight," said Payne. "Her buckets were all at key times. A few of her buckets were at points where we needed really points."

Despite the big win, the Broncos struggled early in the game and an 11-2 run for the Lions put them on top 11-6 with 2:34 to go in the opening period. The Broncos were just 1 of 6 from the floor and turned the ball over six times in five minutes.

"They're a team that denies a lot and they're more athletic than us at some positions so we were ready for their aggressive defense," said Payne. "We still turned the ball over more than we would have liked."

Deanna Johnson led the Lions with 10 points on 4 of 9 shooting. Andee Velasco had seven assists and scored six points.

An 11-0 run over 3:37 in the third quarter pushed Santa Clara's lead out to 51-21. The Lions struggled, committing eight turnovers and going 0 of 6 from the field before Velasco knocked down a 3-pointer.

Santa Clara returns to action Saturday at 2 p.m. vs. Pepperdine in their Think Pink game. Fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness. Carol Dellinger, a six-year breast cancer survivor, will serve as honorary coach for the Broncos.