Bronco briefs
Men's Basketball
LMU 72, Santa Clara 62
At Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles, the Broncos were bested by second-place Loyola Marymount despite senior forward Travis Niesen's season-high 28 points and a strong defensive stop by the Broncos in the second half where the Lions failed to make a field goal in the final 7:47 of the game. Loyola guard Wes Wardrop made three three-pointers to start the second half, putting the Lions on a 15-5 run and up by a score of 37-29. Later on in the half, Brandon Rohe hit a three with 2:43 left to bring the Broncos within three points, but Loyola's six consecutive successful shots at the charity stripe put Santa Clara out of reach of their second conference victory this season.
Pepperdine 65, Santa Clara 45
In the final game of their Southern California road trip, Santa Clara had to play a suddenly hot Waves team that outscored the Broncos by 13 points in the second half. Freshman center John Bryant recorded a career-high 16 points in the losing effort. Santa Clara shot just over 27 percent, a season low. Dick Davey's squad went cold for a five-minute stretch in the second half as Pepperdine went on a 19-7 run that ended the Waves' three-game losing streak.
WOMen's Basketball
Santa Clara 67, Pepperdine 62
Five-time West Coast Conference Player of the Week Michelle Cozad scored a double-double (29 points, 10 rebounds) in a strong victory over second-place Pepperdine. Sophomore guard Chandice Cronk and junior guard Anna Martin combined with each other and Cozad to account for 35 of Santa Clara's 39 first-half points. Both teams shot less than 40 percent in the first half, but the Broncos hit six three-point field goals to start the half up by five points. At 1:35 left in the second half, the Waves were able to tie it up, but Cozad hit a shot as she was fouled and made the free throw to give the Broncos the confidence they would need to finish the game with a win.
Santa Clara 71, LMU 58
The Broncos were able to pull off a convincing win over the top-ranked Lions of Loyola Marymount on Saturday afternoon behind Cozad's second straight double-double (25 points, 11 rebounds) and junior forward Kasey Monteith's career-high tying 16 points and nine rebounds. Santa Clara led by as many as 21 points at one juncture in the game and Loyola never got back within eight points for the entire second half. The loss for the Lions was their first in nine games.
WOMen's TENNIS
Cal Poly SLO 5, Santa Clara 2
The women's tennis season opened with a loss at home against the Mustangs. In doubles action, sophomore Myra Davoudi and freshman Stephanie Galainena were the only victors (8-4) for Santa Clara which allowed Cal Poly to secure the doubles point. The Broncos' two points came from juniors Kim Daniel (4-6, 7-5, 6-0) and Casey Knutson (6-2, 7-5) in singles play. Women's tennis will take on the University of Oregon Friday at 6 p.m. in Eugene.