SANTA CLARA, Calif. – West Coast Conference action opened for Santa Clara women's basketball Saturday afternoon with an impressive 75-65 win over Pacific at Leavey Center.

Tia Hay led the way for the Broncos (7-5, 1-0 WCC) with 22 points while grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out five assists. In her second consecutive start, Tamia Braggs scored 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting while also grabbing eight rebounds.

Also in on the action was Lindsey VanAllen who scored 12 with Merle Wiehl adding nine points and eight rebounds and Ashlyn Herlihy grabbing 11 boards to go with seven points.

"We're just finding our pace right now," Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said. "We have some depth and we can play a number of people and keep the pressure on you. Then, by the end, we're fresh. That's been the case recently."

Santa Clara took a lead midway through the first quarter that lasted until the first bucket of the fourth quarter when Jordan Cruz knocked down a 3-pointer, her first points of the game, to even the score at 50-all. The Broncos responded with the next six in a row and would never trail again.

"It was a good way to start conference against a really good team," Carr said. "We got out to a nice lead, but good teams make runs at you and they did just that. We were then able to make a run at them that put us in a position to win."

A 44-22 edge in points in the paint and a 57-34 advantage on the boards helped the Broncos top the team picked to finish in third place in the conference in the preseason poll.

"Defensively, I think we're getting a lot better at having them shoot over us and us being inside to rebound. That was the case today," Carr said. "We've been emphasizing rebounds and the team has done a really good job of listening and then going out there and doing it."

Despite trailing by 10 at the half, the Tigers (7-5, 0-1 WCC) used a big third quarter to get back into the game. A 10-2 run to close the period trimmed an 11-point deficit down to just 50-47. Jessica Blakeslee led the way, knocking down two from deep to cap the run.

Blakeslee finished with 13 points with Valerie Higgins' 16 leading the way. Higgins also had 13 rebounds for a double-double but Santa Clara held Pacific's leading scorer Brooklyn McDavid (16.4 ppg) to just seven on 3-for-14 shooting.

"There are certainly keys when you scout a team, but I thought we did a nice job on everybody," Carr said. "I also thought everybody on our squad did a nice job of taking the scouting report and executing it."

HIGHLIGHTS

HIGHLIGHTS | All the buckets from a big fourth quarter in today's @WCCSports victory over Pacific!#StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos pic.twitter.com/7jSaWrQ6In

— Santa Clara Women's Basketball (@Santaclarawbb) December 29, 2019

NOTES

• Santa Clara is now 30-23 all-time against Pacific.
• With four blocks, Lauren Yearwood now has 100 blocks in her career, good for fourth in Santa Clara history. Next up is Lindsey Leo (2010-13) with 113.
• Ashlyn Herlihy returned to the starting lineup and Tamia Braggs made her second start in a row and the second of her career.
• Yearwood returned to action, coming off the bench, after missing the last game with a foot injury.

UP NEXT
The Broncos stay at home and take on Saint Mary's Monday at 5 p.m.

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