Feb. 24, 2000

SPOKANE, Wash.

Despite out-scoring Santa Clara University by nine points in the second half, Gonzaga University's women's basketball team could not pull off their West Coast Conference upset bid and lost their Thursday night game 84-71.

The Bulldogs fall to 9-17 overall and 2-11 in the WCC while the Broncos raise their record to 19-7 and 9-4 in the conference.

The Zags trailed the entire first half and shot just 27 percent from the field compared to SCU's 57 percent shooting. Santa Clara led by as many as 24 points in the half but the Bulldogs cut it to 51-29 at the break.

In the beginning of the second half the Broncos picked up where they left off and extended their lead to 30 points (63-33) with 14:06 left in the game. The Bulldogs however, rallied to make things interesting. By capitalizing on Bronco miscues and knocking down four 3-pointers Gonzaga out-scored Santa Clara 21-6 over a seven-minute span to slice the lead to 69-57. The Broncos jumped back out to a 19-point advantage which the Bulldogs chopped to nine points on Kristin Deal's two free throws with 40 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs would get no closer and the Broncos sunk four charity tosses to finish out the game's scoring.

Deal teamed with frontcourt mate Sydney Perno to lead the Zags in rebounding with nine apiece. The senior posts scored 15 and 12 points respectively. Sophomore Jessica Malone also added 15 points for the Bulldogs.

The balanced Broncos had four players score in double figures with senior Katie Pursley's 17 points leading all scorers. Post Annie Garrison finished the night with a double-double. The 6-3 junior scored 15 points (all in the first half) and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Gonzaga will return to the court Saturday when it hosts the University of San Francisco (11-15, 4-9 WCC) in the season finale. Game-time is set for 7 p.m.