SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The USF women's basketball team couldn't find the offensive momentum it needed in a 74-61 loss at Santa Clara on Thursday evening from the Leavey Center.
 
Senior Rachel Howard led all scorers with 26 points, but couldn't shake the Dons (13-11, 7-6 WCC) out of a 36 percent shooting night.
 
Redshirt junior Kalyn Simon added 12 points, teaming with Howard for seven of the team's eight three-pointers on the night. With five triples in the game, Howard moved into second place on USF's all-time three-pointers list with 166 in her career.   
 
Coming into the game with the conference's third-best percentage from deep, USF shot just 28.6 percent from the perimeter, four of which came in the fourth quarter.
 
The night started in Santa Clara's favor as the Broncos (11-13, 6-7 WCC) opened the game with a quick 8-2 run.
 
The second quarter started slowly for both teams with USF scoring the only points over the first three minutes of the period. After that, the Dons went over four minutes without a field goal until Michaela Rakova's lay in with just under two minutes remaining. A pair of free throws by Nia Alexander at the seven-minute mark gave the Dons a 21-14 lead, which would be their largest advantage of the game.
 
Much of the second quarter consisted of missed shots and turnovers on both sides. Marie Bertholdt's layup with four seconds left gave the Broncos a 30-29 lead heading into halftime. Santa Clara would carry the lead for the remainder of the contest.  
 
Santa Clara came out of the intermission with a quick 7-2 spurt. The Broncos started to extend their lead, going 9-of-11 in the third quarter, with Morgan McGwire's buzzer beater giving the Broncos a 57-41 advantage at the end of the third period.
 
The Dons strung together an 8-0 stretch to start the fourth quarter, trimming the Santa Clara lead to 51-61. However, the Broncos immediately turned around and climbed back ahead with a 9-0 run that effectively put the game out of reach for USF.
 
Santa Clara shot 50 percent on the night with Lori Parkinson scoring 21 points and grabbing a game-high six rebounds. Emily Wolph (14), Bertholdt (13), Morgan McGwire (12) and Taylor Berry (12) rounded out the Broncos in double figures.
 
The Dons head out to Provo, Utah for their final road game of the year when they meet BYU on Saturday at 1 p.m. Pacific.