SANTA CLARA, Calif. – In the final game before a holiday break, Santa Clara women's basketball beat Saint Mary's 73-67 on Wednesday afternoon to tie the second longest winning streak in program history.

The last time the Broncos had a winning streak of 11 games was when from Jan. 30-March 12, 1993.

Its 11-2 start is the best for Santa Clara since beginning the 2001-02 season 12-2.

"Today was a matchup of two of the most aggressive and physical teams that are both on a roll," said Santa Clara head coach JR Payne. "Both teams play basketball the right way and played their hearts out tonight. The next meeting will be more of the same."

Santa Clara (11-2, 2-0 WCC) continued its defensive dominance by forcing 24 Gaels' turnovers, 15 in the first half, while only committing eight of their own. The Broncos scored 25 points off of turnovers and allowed just seven.

"If you want to be a Santa Clara Bronco you have to do the dirty work," said Payne. "I'm proud of our aggressiveness on the glass in second half. We were getting dominated in the first half so it was a really tremendous effort in the second half."

Saint Mary's (10-3, 1-1 WCC) was hot from 3-point land, going 8 of 19 while the Broncos were just 1 of 14.

"They were hitting threes like crazy in the first half," said Payne. "In the second half we did a little better job defensively. It was definitely a battle of wills."

Lori Parkinson led all players with 21 points on 8 of 15 shooting and added five boards. She scored 11 of the Broncos first 21 points on 5 of 5 shooting.

"Lori came out confident and aggressive, which we love to see from her," said Payne. "She was hitting jump shots, which she isn't usually known for but confidence is a great thing."

With just 16 seconds left in the fourth quarter and Santa Clara on top 69-67, Parkinson came up with a huge block that gave possession back to the Broncos. Marie Bertholdt went down and hit two big free throws to make it a two-possession game.

Bertholdt had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 10 of 13 from the charity stripe. Devin Hudson scored 14 with eight rebounds while Taylor Berry added 10 points.

Lauren Nicholson led the Gaels with 20 points and hit three 3-pointers. Sydney Raggio grabbed a game-high 14 rebound and scored 12 points.

The Broncos used a 12-2 run over the final five minutes of the third quarter to build a lead 52-45 lead. The Gaels would score the final four points of the quarter, including a layup as time expired.

Santa Clara returns to action Thursday, Dec. 31 at 4 p.m. at Portland.