Feb. 5, 2005

Box Score

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The nation's longest active winning streak still remains in the hands of the Gonzaga University Bulldogs as they escaped the Leavey Center on Saturday night with a 66-61 win over the Santa Clara Broncos (11-11, 5-4 WCC).

Freshman Dominique Harris hit the biggest shot of her young career and Gonzaga rode a 23-point effort by senior Ashley Burke to win their 16th straight and improve to 20-2 on the season, 9-0 in the West Coast Conference.

Harris big shot came with 1:55 remaining as she hit a jumper to knot the game at 59-59 and bring the Bulldogs back from a late five point deficit. Following Harris' jumper, Anne Bailey knocked down a 3-pointer with 46-seconds remaining and Shannon Mathews connected on 3-of-4 free throws to give the Bulldogs their final margin of victory.

After trailing most of the game, Santa Clara rallied with 6:02 left in the game to take only their second lead of the game on a Michelle Cozad 3-pointer. Tracy Walker would hit one of two free throws to end the Broncos spurt that had Santa Clara up 54-49 with just over five minutes left.

Mathews brought the Bulldogs to within two points on a fast-break lay-up at 2:47 before Harris knocked down the final two of her six points. Mathews would finish with 15 points giving Gonzaga four players in double-figures.

Gonzaga gained command of the game early on as Anne Bailey hit a pair of free throws to put the Bulldogs a 11-4 lead. After a taking a 31-28 lead to the locker room at halftime, Burke capped off another Bulldogs run that pushed the lead to 37-30. Bailey finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Burke led all players with 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting and 7-of-11 from the free throw line.

Cozad was the Broncos top scorer with 16 points despite shooting 5-for-22 from the floor. Cozad also pulled down 10 rebounds, all defensive. Santa Clara was limited to only 35 percent shooting and 3-of-18 from 3-point range. Walker and Kayla Huss each added 11 to round out the top Santa Clara scorers.

Stephanie Hawk was the final GU player in double-figures finishing with 10 points and 9 rebounds. The Bulldogs will look to move one step closer to capturing their first regular-season West Coast Conference crown since the 1987-88 season this week when they host Pepperdine University and Loyola Marymount University. Pepperdine visits the McCarthey Athletic Center at 7 p.m. on Thursday night while LMU comes calling at 2 p.m. on Saturday.