PROVO, Utah – Santa Clara women's basketball's four-game winning streak came to an end in a 76-50 defeat at BYU Wednesday afternoon.
The Cougars (6-1, 2-0 WCC) got going early and never looked back, led by a game high 20 points from Shaylee Gonzales, with 18 coming in the first half. They scored the first nine points of the game and closed the first quarter on a 6-0 run that saw the lead stretch to 24-8.
After the Broncos (5-3, 1-1 WCC) defense held BYU's offense quiet for the first three minutes of the second, the Cougars found their groove again, scoring the next 12 over 5:13 to get up 36-12.
Lauren Gustin registered her fifth double-double in seven games with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Sara Hamson scored 12 as well with eight boards. Maria Albiero picked up 10 assists and scored seven points.
A 12-2 run early in the second half cut the deficit to 42-28 but that was as close as Santa Clara would get. Lindsey VanAllen scored six during the run with Ashlyn Herlihy adding five.
VanAllen led the Broncos with 13 points and had four rebounds, one off the team high of five brought down by Merle Wiehl. Herlihy scored nine and Danja Stafford had seven. Ashlee Maldonado added five assists.
Santa Clara struggled to knock down shots from the opening whistle, shooting just 28.3-percent on the day, including 22.2-percent in the first half. The Broncos opened the game 1-of-10 and saw a 0-for-8 stretch in the second quarter that resulted in a scoreless streak of just over seven minutes.
Herlihy finally got the team back on the board with a pair of free throws and VanAllen followed it up with a 3-pointer just before halftime.
The difficulties continued in the second half with an 0-for-11 stretch in the third quarter and a 1-for-14 run in the fourth.
NOTES
- Santa Clara is now 2-21 all-time against BYU.
- It was just the second time this season Santa Clara has allowed more than 60 points.
- Anna Johnson scored her first career points with a 3-pointer at 5:32 in the fourth quarter.
UP NEXT
The Broncos play their first home game of the year Saturday at 6 p.m. against Loyola Marymount. The game will be at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz.
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