SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Brynna Maxwell scored 17 points to lead a balanced attack and Yvonne Ejim had a double-double and No. 20 Gonzaga defeated Santa Clara 78-61 on Saturday, the Bulldogs' ninth-straight win.
Ejim had 16 points and 12 rebounds, splitting 20 points with Maxwell in the second half to help keep the lead in double figures after a red-hot first half.
Kaylynne Truong scored 15 points with seven assists and McKayla Williams had 13 points with five assists for Gonzaga (16-2, 6-0 West Coast Conference).
Tess Heal scored 14 points for the Broncos (10-8, 1-4) and Oliva Pollerd added 10.
Gonzaga made 7 of 13 3-pointers and shot 55% (17 of 31) to take a 41-28 halftime lead. The Broncos only went 2 of 11 behind the arc and shot 39%.
Truong, who made three of the long shots, opened the game with a 3 and the Bulldogs never trailed. She had back-to-back triples to open a 15-0 run that made it 21-4 and it was 24-10 after one quarter.
Gonzaga shot just 30% in the second half, going 2 of 13 behind arc, but made 15 of 16 free throws. Maxwell, the nation's leader at 98%, was 5 of 5.
Gonzaga plays at Portland on Saturday.
The Bulldogs will retire the jersey of WNBA All-Star Courtney Vandersloot on Feb. 11 when they play Portland again. She will be the first women's player to receive that honor at the school.
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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
