SANTA CLARA, Calif. --- Portland senior Cassandra Brown poured in 21 points and the Pilots were within three points late at Santa Clara, but the Broncos would pull away for an 83-68 win in a West Coast Conference women's basketball game played on Thursday night at the Leavey Center. Portland (2-13, 0-4 WCC) out-shot Santa Clara (6-8, 1-4 WCC) from the field, but the Pilots were hurt by 28 turnovers.
 
Santa Clara led for most of the night, but the Pilots did well to remain within reach and used a run mid-way through the second half to cut the deficit to just three. Down 13 with 11:47 to play, Brown and Kari Luttinen drained a couple of three-pointers and Brown hit a lay-up to pull the Pilots with five.
 
The Broncos then pushed the lead back to nine points before Portland again answered with a quick run. Brown and Luttinen again hit a pair of three's and Luttinen added a jumper to make it a 69-66 game with 5:31 remaining.
 
Moments later the Santa Clara lead was four with 4:28 showing on the clock, but Portland would go scoreless the rest of the way as the Broncos ended the game with an 11-0 run.
 
Brown scores at least 20 points for the third time in the last four games. 17 of her points against the Broncos came in the second half and she was three-for-five from downtown. Brown is averaging a team-best 20.8 points per game against conference foes and she's putting up 17.5 per contest overall.
 
Luttinen finished with 19 points, connecting on four treys on the night. Cassandra Thompson added 10 points and was Portland's leading rebounder with seven boards.
 
The Pilots shot north of 50 percent for most of the game before settling for a shooting percentage of 48.0 (24-for-50). The Pilots combined to hit 10 three-pointers out of 17 tries and went 10 of 15 at the foul line.
 
The Broncos took advantage of Portland's miscues to claim a 36-13 edge in points off of turnovers. Santa Clara shot 32-for-72 (.444) overall, was just nine of 27 from beyond the three-point arc and matched Portland at the free throw line, going 10-for-15.
 
Santa Clara also out-rebounded Portland 43-29, which led to an 18-6 advantage in second-chance points. WCC leading scorer Nici Gilday erupted for 30 points, while Marie Bertholdt registered a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Broncos led 39-32 at the break despite 11 first-half points by Luttinen.
 
The Pilots next remain in the Bay Area to face the San Francisco Dons in a league game on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off at War Memorial Gym is set for 2 p.m.