MORAGA, Calif. – Behind a huge second half and five players in double figures, Santa Clara women's basketball went on the road and beat Saint Mary's 77-59 Thursday night. The 18-point margin of victory was the greatest for the Broncos over the Gaels since an 82-55 win in the 2009 WCC Tournament and the biggest in Moraga since the second all-time meeting when Santa Clara won 87-58 on Jan. 29, 1980.

Down 38-33 at the half, the Broncos (6-4, 2-2 WCC) dominated the final two quarters 44-21, which included an early 6-0 run by the Gaels (2-8, 0-4 WCC). During the last 20 minutes, Santa Clara shot 50.0-percent from the field while holding Saint Mary's to just 25.0-percent.

"The biggest difference was we were able to get a few stops and get a little momentum going with the fast break," Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said. "Things snowballed from there. We were good in transition and saw that the defense is getting better."

Things turned around when Lara Edmanson began a 19-6 run over three-and-a-half minutes with an and-one at 7:45 in the third. Ashlyn Herlihy added nine points during the run that was capped by Lindsey VanAllen's 3-pointer at 4:10 to give her team a 54-50 lead.

Herlihy led all scorers with 16 on 7-of-13 shooting and tied a career high with 14 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.

"I'm really proud of Ashlyn for sticking with it," Carr said. "She had a couple turnovers early but she righted the ship and had a tremendous game. She played really strong defense in the post and had some crucial baskets around the rim. She played inside-outside. It was a senior-type game."

VanAllen added 14 points and five rebounds with Edmanson scoring a career high 13 on 4-of-6 shooting from the field to go with four rebounds and a pair of blocks.

The Gaels would respond and twice get within one point, the final time coming at 2:54 in the third on Holland's jumper but Bryce Nixon followed with the next six points, and added a 3-pointer as well during a 13-0 Santa Clara run.

Nixon also set a career high with 12 points and Merle Wiehl scored 11 with six boards. Lexie Pritchard tied a season high with three steals and was 4-of-6 from the floor with nine points.

"It's a good sign when you have five in double figures and another person scores nine," Carr said. "That means you know the ball is moving and they're sharing it. It doesn't matter who scores, as long as the team scores and that was very evident tonight."

After Saint Mary's first point of the fourth came with 3:58 on the clock on a free throw by Tayla Dalton, the Broncos scored the next eight to put away the game. The Gaels didn't make a field goal in the final quarter until there were just 56 seconds remaining and Dalton connected from downtown.

Dalton and Jade Kirisome both finished the night with nine points. Taycee Wedin's 13 led Saint Mary's

Wiehl, who scoring nine of her points in the first half to help keep the Broncos close, got the offense going early in the first when she scored seven points during a 12-2 Santa Clara run that saw the Broncos take a 12-5 lead at 6:37 after an and-one by Pritchard.

Saint Mary's scored 10 in a row midway through the second period to turn a four-point deficit into a lead. Ellie Croco scored five points and Leia Hanafin's 3-pointer at 5:33 to go in the first half made the score 32-26.

NOTES

• Santa Clara is now 37-43 all-time against Saint Mary's.
• After beating the Gaels last season in the second meeting, the Broncos have won two in a row in the series for the first time since winning four in a row from 2014-16.
• Santa Clara won the battle of the boards 40-25 and outscored Saint Mary's 44-20 in the paint.
• The Broncos also scored 17 fast break points while not allowing any.

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The Broncos travel to Stockton to take on Pacific Saturday at 2 p.m.

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