SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara women's basketball is ready to open the 2026-27 season. The Broncos are coming off 24 wins and trip to the WBIT in the first season of the Loree Payne era.

The Broncos brought home several awards and recognitions during the preseason.

Sophie Glancey was named to the 26-27 Naismith Starting 5 - McClain Power Forward of the Year Top 20 Preseason Watchlist and the 2027 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award Preseason Watch List. It was her second year in a row on the Mid-Major Player of the Year list.

Head coach Loree Payne was named to the 2027 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Preseason Watch List.

Maia Jones and Ava Schmidt were named Preseason All-WCC in a poll of the league's head coaches.

For the first time since at least 1998, Santa Clara was picked to win the West Coast Conference in the Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Broncos earned four first place votes, tied with Portland, but edged out the Pilots 74-71 in total points. Santa Clara finished last season tied for third and made it to the semis of the conference tournament.

After bringing in 13 new players ahead of Payne's first year at the helm, the Broncos have a lot more continuity heading into the 2026-27 season. Santa Clara brings back 10 players from last year's roster. The team returns over 80-percent of it's scoring and all but one starter.

Of the four newcomers, two are transfers and two are freshmen.

Guard Joana Magalhaes and forward Emma Najjuma both joined the program from New Mexico with two years of eligibility remaining.

The freshman are Brooke Blachly of Everett, Washington and Quinsey Bryan of Ladera Ranch, California.

Last season Santa Clara scored a single-season program record 80.2 ppg as a team on 39.9-percent shooting from the field and 31.0-percent from beyond the arc while shooting 74.2-percent from the free throw line.

The Broncos pulled down 42.4 rpg and added 15.9 apg, 9.5 spg, and 5.4 bpg to go with 11.4 tpg. They had a +5.3 turnover margin and a 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Defensively, they allowed 68.6 ppg on 40.1-percent shooting from the floor and 30.2-percent from downtown while forcing 16.7 tpg.

Maia Jones led the team with 15.0 ppg on 38.8-percent shooting while adding 67 3-pointers. She also chipped in 4.6 rpg, 54 steals and 24 blocks. Ava Schmidt led the team with 73 3-points made and scored 12.4 ppg on 40.7-percent shooting from the floor and 35.8-percent from beyond the arc. She added 50.0 rpg and led the team with 73 blocks, good for 14th nationally. Kylee Fox scored 9.2 ppg with 4.6 rpg and Delainey Miller scored 8.0 ppg with 5.7 rpg, tops among qualified players. Aniya Hooker contributed 6.0 ppg and led the team with 60 steals. Before going down with a season-ending elbow injury, Sophie Glancey was scoring 14.6 ppg with a team-high 7.0 rpg while shooting 48.7-percent from the floor. 

Santa Clara finished the season 24-10 and 13-5 in the WCC. The 13 conference wins tied a program record. Head coach Loree Payne set program marks for a first year head coach with the 24 wins and 10 nonconference wins. The team set program marks for points in a season (2,728), points per game (80.2), field goals (953), field goal attempts (2,388), 3-pointers (319), 3-point attempts (1,030), rebounds (1,442), and blocks (183).

Four Broncos were named All-WCC with Ashley Hawkins and Jones taking home First Team, Schmidt being named honorable mention, and Miller on the All-Freshman Team.

Last season was also an historic one for Santa Clara. The team set program marks for points in a season (2,728), points per game (80.2), field goals (953), field goal attempts (2,388), 3-pointers (319), 3-point attempts (1,030), rebounds (1,442), and blocks (183).

The team also set program records with 125 points and an 82-point margin of victory against Simpson last season.

In addition, Payne set program marks for a first year head coach with 24 wins and 10 nonconference wins. The 13 WCC victories were tied for the most in program history as well.