BYU women’s basketball pulls 33 points in the fourth quarter to beat Santa Clara 78-72

BYU women’s basketball came away with a 78-72 win in their last game against Santa Clara before next season in the Big 12.

“They put a lot of pressure on our offense and limited our post game,” Santa Clara head coach Bill Carr said.

Lauren Gustin put up eight of BYU’s ten points to keep the Cougars in the game during the first quarter, being outscored 15-10 by the Broncos.

The Cougars were trailing until the final minute of the first half when Arielle Mackey-Williams tied the game at 30. Nani Falatea shortly hit a three-point buzzer beater to end the quarter 33-30 with BYU’s first lead of the game after an 8-0 run.

BYU went into the second half having shot 50% at the three point line compared to Santa Clara’s 25% but soon fell into a 4 minute scoring drought.

The Cougars fell behind as the Broncos finished the quarter on a 12-2 run and took the lead 49-45.

Foul trouble for both BYU and Santa Clara resulted in more time at the free throw line, with two cougars fouling out of the game.

BYU flipped the switch to make a comeback in the fourth quarter, shooting 47% from the 3 and outscoring the Broncos 33-23 to end the game with a score of 78-72.

Lauren Gustin tied her career high of 30 points, consequently reaching 1000 career points and earning her 24th double double.

The Cougars will stay on the road to play the San Francisco Dons this Saturday at 3pm.