No. 10 Georgia narrowly avoids upset vs. Santa Clara

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- Rather than a design a play for the final seven seconds, Georgia coach Andy Landers told his shooters to spot up and to get the ball to one of the senior guards.

It was Alexis Kendrick who took the ball the length of the floor before hitting a short jumper, her only basket, at the last second as the Lady Bulldogs (No. 10 ESPN/USA Today; No. 8 AP) rallied for a 92-91 win over Santa Clara on Friday night.

"I just drew up our press offense," Landers said. "Whether it was Alexis or Sherill Baker, I told them they had plenty of time to go the length of the floor. I wanted whoever had the ball to take it as deep as she could."

Kendrick said she saw teammates Cori Chambers and Tasha Humphrey out of the corner of her eye.

"But it looked wide open, so I decided to go for it," she said.

Humphrey scored a career-high 38 points for the Lady Bulldogs (1-1), who took the lead for the first time with 3:05 left on Humphrey's three-point play.

"It's been a long time since we've played behind 37 or 38 minutes in a game and actually won it," said Landers. "In fact, there have been games in the past two or three years where we've played ahead 37 or 38 minutes and caved in at the end, so I'm really pleased."

After Humphrey's free throw gave Georgia an 85-82 lead, Kayla Huss hit a 3-pointer seconds later to tie the score for Santa Clara (0-1).

Michelle Cozad, who matched her career high with 34 points, put the Broncos up 89-87 with 1:38 left, and Kendrick hit a pair of free throws at 1:24 to tie the game again.

Humphrey made a free throw to give Georgia a one-point lead, then blocked a layup attempt by Tracey Walker. Georgia then ran the shot clock down before Humphrey missed a short jumper in the lane.

Cozad grabbed the rebound and was fouled and hit both shots, setting up the opportunity for Kendrick's heroics.

Baker added 20 points for Georgia, and Megan Darrah and Cori Chambers scored 14 each.

Huss scored 18 for Santa Clara, which hit 7 of 11 3-pointers and 65 percent overall in building a 48-39 halftime lead.