STOCKTON, Calif. – A furious late-game comeback came up just short for Santa Clara women's basketball in a 90-82 defeat at Pacific Thursday. Down 19 with under three minutes to go, the Broncos (18-7, 8-4 WCC) would get as close as five points, but the Tigers (9-13, 4-7 WCC) were able to hold on at home by knocking down free throws.

HOW IT HAPPENED: 

• Neither team made much of a run in the first quarter with the biggest leading being five points when Santa Clara led the early-going 8-3. The Broncos got a jumper from Delainey Miller with 40 seconds left in the quarter to take an 18-6 lead headed to the second.
• An 8-1 run by Pacific gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the first half at 24-20, but Santa Clara answered back with a 6-0 run of its own. With her team down one, Maia Jones scored five in a row to give the Broncos a 31-27 lead at the 3:10 mark, but Santa Clara didn't make another field goal the rest of the way with the teams going into halftime tied at 34.
• Pacific caught fire from the field, particularly from beyond the arc, and had a big third quarter. An 11-2 run featuring three 3-pointers gave the Tigers a double-digit lead for the first time at 56-46. The Broncos answered with a 6-0 run to get within four before Pacific stretched the lead back out to 10 with another triple in the final 20 seconds. Ava Schmidt's bucket got Santa Clara within 66-58 at the end of the third. The Tigers finished the quarter 10-of-14 from the field and 5-of-6 from beyond the arc.
• The first six points of the fourth went to Pacific who stretched its lead to 72-58 with the run. A layup by Tyler Gildersleeve-Stiles at the 5:06 mark of the period was Santa Clara's first field goal of the quarter and just its third points. The Tigers got their lead out to game-high 19 points with just 3:05 to go and seemingly put the game away, but the Broncos made it interesting with a 13-0 run over 1:56 to get within 81-75 with 52 seconds on the clock.
• Finally heating up from downtown, Schmidt made her third 3-pointer of the quarter with 40 seconds to go to make it an 83-78 game. A 3-point attempt from Hawkins would have made it a two-point game with 18 seconds to go but the shot was no good and Pacific converted free throws the rest of the way to close out the win.

NOTABLE:

• Santa Clara shot 35.4-percent (23-for-65) from field and was just 4-of-27 from downtown. The Broncos entered the night fourth in the nation in 3-pointers per game at over nine a contest but had just one in the first 37 minutes of the game, at one point missing 15 in a row.
• Santa Clara had a nice night from the free throw line, going 32-of-41. The 41 attempts were tied for ninth-most in a game in program history and the 32 makes were sixth-most. 
• Jones finished the night with 20 points thanks to going 11-of-15 from the free throw line. Both marks from the charity stripe were career-highs. Schmidt was 8-of-12 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc for 19 points and Hawkins scored 18 while going a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line with six assists. Kylee Fox pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds.
• With her six assists, Hawkins now has 150 on the season, putting her at eighth on the program's single season list.
• Pacific shot 49.2-percent (29-for-59) from the floor while going 29-for-24 from deep. The Tigers were also 22-of-26 from the charity stripe.
• Sydney Ward led all scorers with 27 points on a perfect 9-of-9 from the field to go with 11 rebounds for the double-double. Sophia Mindermann scored 19 and was 5-of-9 from deep while Winner Bartholomew scored 15. Nyah Lowery and Liv Yergensen both added 10 points.

NEXT UP

• The Broncos take on Oregon State on the road Thursday at 6 p.m.