Gustin makes BYU history in 61-49 loss to Portland
BYU women’s basketball lost to the Portland 61-49 at the Marriott Center Monday in the last game of the regular season. The Cougars end the regular season with a 14-15 record, going 9-9 in conference play.
At the close of the first half, Lauren Gustin broke the BYU single season rebounding record as she passed Tina Gunn Robinson’s 43-year mark of 462. With 24 rebounds in the game, Gustin ended the season with 478. Gustin paired her rebounds with 15 points, making this game her 25th double-double of the season.
“It comes down to our Achilles heel…our turnovers,” head coach Amber Whiting said. “We need to fix those. Last game we look care of them, but tonight we did not.
In the first half of the game, BYU and Portland committed a combined 21 turnovers as the Cougars shot 22% from the field and 0-4 from downtown. Coming back from the break, Nani Falatea breathed some life into the Cougar offense as she hit three quick 3-pointers in the third quarter. Portland came out on top as they converted the Cougar’s 19 total turnovers into 23 points.
The Cougars head to Las Vegas at the end of this week as they look to make a run in the WCC Tournament. “We just want to win and play hard,” said Senior Devry Millett. “It’s win or go home, so everybody has the mentality to play as hard as they can.”
BYU has earned a five seed which will give the Cougars a first round bye. The team will play its first game Friday at 12 p.m. PT in Las Vegas against the winner of Thursday’s Santa Clara/Pepperdine matchup.
