ESTERO, Fla. – Santa Clara women's basketball closed out the Gulf Coast Showcase with a 74-65 win over High Point on Sunday. The Broncos (4-4) overcame a slow start and a couple of big runs by the Panthers (3-6) to leave Florida with the victory.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• A 13-0 early run for High Point put the Panthers up 14-2 midway through the first quarter. Santa Clara would cut into the deficit with an 8-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers from Alana Goodchild and Hannah Rapp, to get within five less than two minutes later.
• Down seven to start the second, the Broncos scored the first 10 of the period to take the lead. They would stretch it out to seven with three minutes to go but High Point came back to tie it with a 7-0 run. Maddie Naro's triple in the final seconds put Santa Clara up 35-32 at the break.
• After the Broncos lead got down to two in the third quarter, they went on an 11-0 run, featuring a triple from Naro and two from Irena Korolenko to stretch the advantage out to 53-40. Georgia Grigoropoulou would score the final six points of the period and Santa Clara held a 13-point advantage headed to the fourth.
• The Panthers cut their deficit down to two with a 12-1 start to the final quarter. The Broncos lead would get back to five before three free throws in a row made it a 65-63 game but six in a row for Santa Clara gave the Broncos some breathing room over the final 90 seconds and late free throws iced the win.

 
NOTABLE NUMBERS:

• After struggling from the field in the first two games of the tournament, Santa Clara shot 46.4-percent from the floor in the finale and went 10-of-21 from beyond the arc.
• High Point shot 33.9-percent from the field and was 5-of-21 from downtown.
• Korolenko and Naro led the way for the Broncos with 15 each as five scored in double-figures. Korolenko was 4-of-6 from downtown and added six rebounds while Naro had five assists. Goodchild scored a career-high 13 and Malia Latu had 11 with a career-high-tying seven rebounds. Grigoropoulou finished the day with a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds).
• Aaliyah Collins led all scorers with 21 and was 7-of-10 from the floor with six rebounds. Lauren Scott was also in double-figures with 14 but was just 2-of-11 shooting and 1-of-7 from deep.
• Santa Clara got contributions from its reserves, holding a 38-22 edge in bench points.

 
NEXT UP

• The Broncos are back home Saturday to take on Cal Maritime at 12 p.m.