USF traveled to Santa Clara looking for an elusive victory against the Broncos and now will likely have to wait another year for their next opportunity. Santa Clara recorded a 66-52 West Coast Conference women’s basketball win against the Lady Dons at the Leavey Events Center on Thursday, marking the ninth consecutive win for the Broncos. USF (12-12, 5-6 WCC) has not beaten Santa Clara (18-5, 9-2 WCC) since the 1996-97 campaign.

San Francisco never got on track offensively in the first half and did not reach double-digits in scoring until the 7:43 mark in the first half, but the Broncos were not scoring at a record clip either, before building their biggest lead of 13, 32-19 in the closing seconds of the first half. USF shot a frigid .280 (7-25) from the floor in the first half and committed 11 turnovers.

USF’s shooting woes continued in the second half and the Lady Dons converted on a miserable .009 (1-11) from 3-point range for their lowest total of the season after entering the contest ranked second in the conference in 3-pointers made (5.41).

Senior center Kim Whisler led the way for USF once again, scoring a team-high 14 points in just 16 minutes due to foul trouble. Freshman forward Mary Jane Krueger came off the bench to score 10 points to go along with seven rebounds.

Senior guard Becki Ashbaugh paced Santa Clara with 19 points.

USF travels to San Diego for a Saturday game against the Toreros of USD. Game time is 4:00 PM from the Jenny Craig Pavilion and will be televised locally on Bay TV.