LAS VEGAS, Nev. --- Portland senior Cassandra Brown scored a game-high 19 points and the Pilots nearly completed a second-half comeback, but in the end the Santa Clara Broncos prevailed 66-58 in the opening round of the West Coast Conference Championships at the Orleans Arena on Thursday. Seniors Cassandra Thompson and Kari Luttinen added 16 and 14 points, respectively.
 
The loss ends the season for the Pilots (4-26) as well as the collegiate careers of Portland's senior class. Brown enters the program records book as the seventh leading scorer in UP history, amassing 1,396 points during her four years on The Bluff. She also finishes third all-time with 180 career three-pointers and a .805 free throw percentage and she ranks fourth with a .393 three-point percentage.
 
Luttinen (1,366) and Jasmine Wooton (1,130) also joined the 1,000 career point club, while Thompson just missed with 896 career points.
 
The win sends the Broncos (11-17) to the quarterfinals, where they'll face San Diego tomorrow.
 
The game began with the two teams trading buckets, and four early points by Thompson helped give the Pilots an 8-6 lead. But from there Portland cooled off from the field, going about seven minutes without a field goal. The drought helped the Broncos to a 23-4 run and a 29-12 lead with 5:10 left in the first half.
 
Down 17, the Pilots offense returned and a quick 7-0 spurt brought Portland within 29-19. Wooton hit a three-pointer during the run and she made a nice pass to Kaylie Van Loo for a lay-up.
 
The Broncos tried to pull away following the surge, but a three-pointer by Brown helped make it a 35-23 deficit at the half.
 
Following the break, a pair of three's from Brown briefly pulled Portland within single digits, but Santa Clara responded by pushing the lead back up to 15 points. Again the Pilots had answer as they refused to go away in the second half. Luttinen buried a big three-pointer with nine minutes left and Wooton followed with a tough lay-up down the lane while getting fouled, to make it a seven-point game.
 
But the Santa Clara lead would hover around 10 points for the next few minutes before the Pilots tried to make a run down the stretch. Luttinen drained another three-pointer and Wooton made a pair from the line to pull the Pilots within 60-54 with 1:16 remaining.
 
Portland then nearly got a big steal on the other end, but the Broncos caught a break and made a lay-up just before the shot clock expired. On the ensuing posession the Broncos forced a miss before making enough free throws during the closing minute to seal the win.
 
Thompson went 12 of 14 at the foul line, Brown was a perfect 8-for-8 and Portland shot 24-for-27 on free throws overall.  Wooton finished with seven points, five rebounds and five assists.
 
Portland never fully found a rhythm offensively and shot 32.6 percent from the field. The Pilots did do well however to limit Santa Clara's Nici Gilday, the conference's second leading scored, to just four of 15 shooting. Gilday scored 14 points to lead the Broncos, who shot 46.4 percent and out-rebounded the Pilots 34-28.
 
Luttinen ends her career as the No. 8 scorer all-time at Portland and her 160 career three's rank fourth all-time. Wooton's career free throw percentage of .794 is fifth all-time at UP and her 361 career assists are ninth most. Thompson finishes with 695 career boards, which falls in at No. 7 on the all-time charts.