SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Kristen Simon scored a game-high 20 points to lead three players in double figures for USC, which pulled away for a 64-43 victory over Santa Clara women's basketball on Friday.
Minyon Moore scored 12 points and Aliyah Mazyck added 10 for the Trojans (3-0) who shot 48 percent from the floor and did most of their damage inside.
No Santa Clara player reached double figures in scoring as Morgan McGwire led the way with nine points. Kyla Martin and Ashlyn Herlihy has eight points apiece for the Broncos (1-2) who shot just 32 percent from the field, including 4-for-18 from behind the 3-point line.
Jordan Adams had a game-high eight rebounds helping the Trojans hold a 33-25 edge on the glass. USC scored 40 points in the paint and out-scored Santa Clara 23-11 off turnovers.
The Trojans started to pull away in the second quarter as the Broncos went cold from the floor.
A 10-0 run with five players scoring increased the USC lead to 31-15 late in the second quarter, one in which the Broncos were held to just seven points on 3 of 9 shooting from the field.
After falling behind by more than 20 in the third, Santa Clara rallied in the fourth quarter.
Herlihy hit a runner to cut the deficit to 50-35 with six minutes left, but the Trojans quickly answered as Smith scored in the paint and Adams nailed a 3-pointer.
Santa Clara had 10 steals in the game, led by three from McGwire, but was not able to convert enough of those into points.
The Broncos are playing with a short bench.
"We'll just have to deal with it," head coach Bill Carr said. "We have nine healthy bodies, and we'll get a couple back throughout the year, but we just got to step up, that's the bottom line."
HIGHLIGHTS | Some of tonight's best offensive efforts from the #SCUBroncos! #StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/WgXAFD9jMn
— Santa Clara WBB (@Santaclarawbb) November 18, 2017
NOTES
• The teams met for the third time (also in 1979 and 2015) with USC capturing each one.
• Ashlyn Herlihy (eight) eclipsed her point total of the first two games in her career (six).
• Morgan McGwire played a season-high 32 minutes.
• The Broncos recorded double-digit steals (10) for the second time this season. They had 16 in the season opener vs. Fullerton State.
QUOTABLE
"I thought we started off pretty well, had some good energy, then they made a couple if good runs at us and we got our heads down. We tried to do some things we don't normally do but we shored it up a little bit in the second half, but we certainly have to learn from this if we want to compete in our league. You got to play, and play well as a team.
"We have to step up and play as a team and compete and not get rattled. There's ups and downs in games, but we can't let the downs rattle us so much. I wasn't displeased with our performance. USC is a good team, and an athletic team, and they got some weapons that we just don't see or necessarily have ourselves. So hopefully we can learn from it and we get Northwestern next week Wednesday."
Head coach Bill Carr
NEXT UP
After playing their first three games at home, the Broncos head out on the road for a pair next week. They will play at Northwestern on Wednesday and at Illinois-Chicago on Saturday, Nov. 25.
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