BYU women’s basketball looks to keep win streak alive vs Santa Clara
BYU women’s basketball is currently on a seven-game win streak and now looks to extend that run this weekend against conference foe Santa Clara.
The Cougars are coming off a dominant performance at home Thursday where they took down San Francisco 78-59 in front of a record-high crowd at the Marriott Center. The win over the Dons also saw the team put up the most points in a single game this season, as Amber Whiting’s squad is beginning to peak at the right time.
Junior forward Lauren Gustin is a key reason for that peak and has the statistics to back her up. Now known as the “double-double queen,” Gustin is leading her team out on the floor and putting up dominant numbers while doing so. In Thursday’s morning game against San Francisco, Gustin scored 27 points to tie her career-high while also hauling in 19 rebounds.
“It’s nice to be able to appreciate the wins the day of and whatnot, but we gotta get our minds right for Santa Clara” Gustin said Friday morning on BYU Sports Nation.
The Broncos are 12-9 on the season and 3-5 in conference play. They just won in a battle last Thursday against San Diego where they finished victorious in come-from-behind fashion 62-56. Santa Clara has been in close games all season long and are 3-4 in games that are decided by 10 points are less, with 3 of those losses coming in the last month while dealing with some injuries on the roster, but key players for the Broncos are looking poised to be on the Marriott Center floor come Saturday.
One of those key players is senior guard Lexie Pritchard, who returned to the floor after two games off with injury. Pritchard dropped 13 points on 6-10 shooting in the team’s win over the Toreros and is averaging over 50% shooting on the year. BYU should have its hands full in what should be a close game between the two programs.
“I think every team is coming out and giving us their best shot regardless of their record,” Gustin said. “Santa Clara is always a good team, they always push the ball out in transition so we just gotta come prepared (Saturday), be locked in today, have a great day of practice, and be dialed in on film, and hopefully be able to continue our win streak.”
The game on Saturday will be at 2 p.m. and will be televised on BYUtv and the BYUtv app.
