Feb. 19, 2005
LOS ANGELES - Holding a six-point lead with 10 minutes remaining, Santa Clara women's basketball was held without a point for eight minutes as Loyola Marymount regained second place in the West Coast Conference standings with a 63-52 victory at Gersten Pavilion this afternoon in Los Angeles.
The Broncos, now 13-12, 7-5, held a half-game advantage in the league standings heading into today's contest. The Lions improve to 14-12, 8-5 as both teams now look toward the final week of the regular season.
Kayla Huss scored 14 points and Quinn Thomas added 10, and both players nabbed five rebounds each. Tracey Walker led all Bronco rebounders with seven.
LMU was led by Rachel Ziemann, who scored 18 points. Jacquelyn Woods added a 14-point, 10-rebound effort.
The first half went back and forth, with the teams changing leads on seven occasions and sharing three ties. Back-to-back threes by Huss gave the Broncos an 18-17 lead at the eight-minute media time out. However, Ziemann hit two threes from the right wing to spark a modest 8-0 Lion run and move the home squad ahead 27-20.
Down by four at half, 30-26, the Broncos started the second half with their strongest shot. Thomas hit a three and was followed by back-to-back bombs from Anna Martin on opposite wings to take a 39-36 and force Lion time out. Martin didn't let the break slow her down, adding a third three in a 90-second span to extend the Broncos' lead to six.
Ahead 50-44, Santa Clara went eight minutes without a point, allowing the Lions to retake the lead for the rest of the afternoon. Two free throws by Bianca Ziemann at 6:05 pulled LMU within two, 50-48. A Woods steal and lay-up tied the back game at 50 heading into the final five minutes. Jenni Smith continued the charge with a jumper and the Lions never looked back.
Santa Clara will close out the regular season at home next weekend, hosting San Francisco and San Diego at the Leavey Center. The Broncos will take on the Dons first, in a Thursday contest that will tip-off at 7 p.m. Santa Clara will honor its lone senior on the squad, Thomas, prior to the Saturday contest against the Toreros, which will tip-off at 2 p.m.
