BYU women’s basketball earns WCC regular-season championship in 82-52 win over Pacific

BYU women’s hoops closed its final game of the regular season the only way it knows how: quick, efficient and with absolute domination, earning the title of West Coast Conference regular-season champions.

BYU started the night strong defensively, with five steals and six rebounds converted to points for a 15-2 lead five minutes into the game.

In the second quarter, BYU took off on another 11-0 run and dropped a couple of quick threes to extend the lead 32–9.

By halftime the Cougars had solidly taken control of the game, shooting 44% from the field with a score of 50-20.

The rest of the game followed a similar pattern, with the Tigers having to fight hard for every point.

BYU struggled shooting from the 3-point line, only making 27% of their shots, but made up for it by controlling inside with 34 points in the paint.

The Cougars were led by Shaylee Gonzales with 18 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Paisley Harding had 14 points, four rebounds, and three steals. Tegan Graham made four 3-pointers for a total of 12 points and five assists and to round out the leading scorers Lauren Gustin had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

BYU finishes as the WCC regular-season champs and now gets the number one seed going into the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas.

“When we got picked first I pulled the team together and I said, ‘I just want you guys to know you gotta pull that on your back,'” head coach Jeff Judkins said. “‘You’re supposed to win this; you’re supposed to win this championship and you’ve got two ways: you either relish it, taking advantage of knowing that you’re the best team and know that if you work hard, focus and do all the little things you can win a championship or you can let it slip through your fingers.’”

The team has no intention of letting the championship slip through their fingers and will play Monday, Mar. 7 in the semi-final game.